Court Opinion

ID: 9634483
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:14:25.210593+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:42:34.532424
License: Public Domain

LARSEN, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. The rationale for the “same firm” concept being applied to the Public Defender's office in ineffective assistance of counsel cases is based upon the conflict be*545tween the loyalties to one’s client and the loyalties to one’s associates:
We will not view the failure to raise a claim of incompetency as a waiver where an individual in the subsequent proceeding is represented by the same counsel or one of his associates. The law will not assume that counsel has advised his client of his inadequacies or those of his associates. Commonwealth v. Via, 455 Pa. 373, 377, 316 A.2d 895, 898 (1974). (emphasis added)
No such conflict exists when two attorneys from a Public Defender’s office engage in the simultaneous representation of clients with inconsistent defenses. These situations do not require an attorney to impugn the competence or performance of his associates and, therefore, do not bring the loyalties to one’s associates into conflict with the loyalties to one’s clients. Thus, I would affirm the judgment of sentence.