What is the definition of endless?

I got e-mail nearly a week ago from one of the Regional Counsels (Jackson Flyte, who has been very gracious in corresponding with the author of this little blog). Before I post some of his e-mail, I'd like to express a few qualifiers:

1. I'm grateful that he takes the time to answer my messages.
2. It is important to keep such communication between the Regional Counsels and private defense attorneys open.
3. Lastly, I may not agree with everything in these e-mails, and am likely to say so.

So here we go:

The Regional Counsels are all busily trying to get space from the county offices some of which are cooperative and some clearly are not. I am having no problem finding experienced attorneys to handle both criminal and dependency work. This is particularly true when they are offered a part time employment package that lets them maintain their private practice and still receive state benefits including family health, retirement, disability, life insurance, etc... The greater challenge is convincing Judges that they too must make sacrifices under this new system. The Courts will no longer have an endless supply of court appointed counsel to rely upon to handle their cases. They will instead be required to adapt to the schedules of the Assistant Regional Counsels.

Jack Flyte

Regional Counsel, Second District

The bolded portion above seems to be good news for Mr. Flyte. I've gotten the impression that he took the job knowing that he would have to improvise, adapt, and overcome.

The two sentences after the bolded portion give me pause, however. How do you define endless? Either parents will (as required by Florida Statutes Section 39.402(8)(c)(2)) "[be advised of] their right to counsel to represent them at the shelter hearing and at each subsequent hearing or proceeding, and the right of the parents to appointed counsel, pursuant to [indigency requirements]", or parents will not be afforded that statutory right.

Either the law will be followed, or it will not be. I don't, therefore, know what "endless supply of court appointed counsel" means when it comes to dependency cases.

There has to be one attorney per eligible parent, no more and no less, starting at the very first hearing at which they appear.

I can tell you that when our local ISC changed our compensation to a $750 flat fee between January 1, 2007 and July 1, 2007, the ten of us who stayed on the rotation list throughout didn't feel like a particularly endless supply.

That said, it is easy to shoot arrows at any new endeavor, and to the extent that I am doing that rather than being more constructive in response to Mr. Flyte's short message, I am simply trying to talk through what dependency defenders who are concerned about due process rights, and what that means in practice, are worried about.

In case you missed it, see my earlier rant on this topic.