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Clearinghouse REVIEW Journal of Poverty Law and Policy n
July–August 2006
Over the past few decades, states have passed hundreds of laws and court rules guar-
anteeing the right to counsel in a wide variety of civil cases. These laws have
received little attention and merit more. They are surprising in their number (in
the hundreds) and in the many different types of cases they cover (family law matters,
involuntary commitment proceedings, medical treatment, and many others). They also
vary widely in the extent to which they ensure that the counsel provided is competent and
effective. In this article we give an overview of the statutes and rules.
The genesis of state right-to-counsel laws varies. Some implement court decisions
establishing a constitutional right to counsel in one or more types of proceedings.1
Others implement federal laws requiring the provision of counsel to specific types of
individuals, such as members of the military or Indian children facing removal from
their parents.2 Still others flow from a legislature’s belief that providing counsel in a
particular type of case is good social policy.3
Here we discuss the types of cases where a statute or court rule provides for a right to coun-
sel and the extent to which state right-to-counsel statutes attempt to ensure that counsel
is competent. A table of a cross-section of state right-to-counsel statutes follows.
I.
Cases Where a State Statute or Court Rule Provides for a Right to Counsel
Most state right-to-counsel statutes and court rules fall into three broad categories:
family law matters, involuntary commitment, and medical treatment.
A. Family Law Matters
Federal law requires states receiving federal child abuse prevention and treatment
funding to appoint a representative for children involved in abuse or neglect pro-
ceedings.4 Thus virtually all states have statutes guaranteeing either the right to an
attorney or the right to a guardian ad litem for children in abuse and neglect cases.5
State Statutes Providing for a
Right to Counsel