Location: North Carolina
My girlfriend has court in North Carolina today, and we arrived at the courthouse to discover her lawyer had filed a motion to withdraw as her council last night at 10:23 pm. Is this legal? It certainly isn’t ethical. What should we expect moving forward?
Comments
Ask the judge for a continuance and file a complaint with the state bar. Your girlfriend will need to find a new lawyer.
Has the lawyer been fully paid? There was an engagement letter or contract she signed to hire the lawyer to represent her: has she done her part of the contract? That will answer the question about legality/ethical responsibility. Either way, your girlfriend may be successful in asking the court to continue her case so she can find different counsel.
I’d love the hear the backstory. Takes a lot for a public defender to withdraw the day before a case. Judges don’t love this kind of activity, so the PD should have good reason.