To Bill a Mockingbird
By Marcel Strigberger
I had the pleasure of seeing for the second time the movie To Kill a Mockingbird. If you remember, the movie is a 1962 classic drama about a lawyer, Mr. Atticus Finch, played by Oscar award-winning Gregory Peck, who defends a black man charged with raping a white girl in a small southern town in the early 1930s.
One scene impressed me very much. The accused, Atticus Finch’s client, is transferred from the county jail to the unguarded town jail the night before his trial starts.
When Atticus hears rumours that a lynch mob might try to expedite the course of justice, he brings along a chair, a tall reading lamp and a good book and he parks himself in front of the town jail in order to guard his client the entire night from the anticipated mob, which ultimately arrives.
Although I first saw this movie before I ever considered going to law school, viewing it this time as a lawyer, this scene was very significant.
I asked myself the question all other lawyers would immediately ask: Would Legal Aid cover Atticus’ fee for this type of situation?
I imagined for the purposes of this fantasy that the provisions of the Ontario Legal Aid Plan are at least as comprehensive as those of the state’s Legal Aid Plan of the 1930s.
A lawyer’s account to Legal Aid would in part read as follows:
July 11. To preparation for trial, including spending night in front of town jail guarding client from lynch mob; to addressing members of lynch mob and to calming them down; to reassuring client, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
The main problem facing the lawyer is that the tariff allows a maximum of eight hours of preparation time for the first day of a rape trial. Accordingly, counsel has already consumed this allotted time for preparation.
There is hope. He could get down on his knees and beg for additional alms by referring to Note A and asking for the discretionary increase.
The account would therefore continue as follows:
Pursuant to Note A, I would ask for an extension of the eight hours maximum in view of the following circumstances. I heard rumours a lynch mob would be arriving at the town jail that night to visit my client. I also heard that local authorities were unwilling or unable to spend the night guarding my client. I though it prudent to undertake the task myself. The result obtained was excellent as indeed the mob arrived ready to hang my client, but after some discourse, it left the scene in peace.
The offence itself was serious, namely rape. There was an additional complexity. I had to spend the whole night sitting outside on a hard wooden chair. I think I deserve an additional $150.
Notwithstanding Note A, the ultimate recovery could still be tempered by the provisions of Note E which reads in part as follows:
Where a solicitor can readily ascertain that services authorized by a certificate, in the specific circumstances of that case, are sufficiently unusual or unique that the maximum allowed by the tariff is clearly inadequate, he shall forth-with advise the area director and Legal Accounts Officer of the details of the case and an estimate of the time and services required in his opinion. Failure of a solicitor to do so will be a factor in the settlement of the solicitor’s account.
Then again, diligent counsel would whip over by courier a letter to the Legal Accounts Officer with a copy to the area director, all in accordance with Note E.
Dear Sir:
This case is very unusual. I don’t think tariff maximum of eight hours for preparation for the first day of a rape trial will cover it all as I expect to spend several hours tonight alone in front of the town jail guarding my client. It’s hard to say exactly how long I’ll be there, but I think I’ll need more than my allotted eight hours for preparation.
As for other details, I expect a lynch mob composed of 20 to 30 men, clad in overalls and straw hats and carrying shotguns and axe handles.
Now if counsel keeps Note E in mind, then after asking for a Note A increase, he stands a chance of getting his additional $150 ... less 25 per cent. Judging from experience, however, it’s most unlikely that he will be reimbursed for the courier.
______________© 2007 Marcel Strigberger. This article CANNOT be copied or reproduced in any way without the expressed written consent of the Author.
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