Lately, we’ve had questions regarding the best process to request duty counsel (DC) to act as an agent on criminal matters.
“If we have advanced notice of who duty counsel is on a particular date and location, can we send our instructions to adjourn directly to them?”
This is not advised. Duty counsel staffing can sometimes change quickly for various reasons, from illnesses to flat tires. The person you’d thought would be DC in a courtroom might suddenly become unavailable, and our staff might be the only people who know of the changes.
To ensure your requests are getting to the right DC lawyer for the day, please email