Poor Defence Lawyering in Criminal Proceedings: A Comparative View

by Ashlee Beazley (Editor), Michele Panzavolta (Editor), Andrew Sanders (Editor)

Overview

This collection discusses the concept of ‘poor quality’ criminal defence representation and assistance, so-termed poor lawyering. It does so from diverse perspectives, including legal and criminological. The work presents an overview of the issue of the quality of legal assistance in criminal proceedings, so allowing a better understanding of the potential limits and problems. The volume is divided into three parts which, over 14 chapters, offer analyses of poor lawyering across national and supranational legal systems, including Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, England and Wales, the United States, and the European Court of Human Rights; the specific challenges of poor lawyering, such as regulation of counsel before the International Criminal Court, through codes of conduct, and in cross-border proceedings within Europe; the individual fault and external pressures of criminal defence lawyers; the ‘missed opportunity’ of pre-charge engagement; the importance of insights from legal and criminological psychology; and the role of neurodivergent defendants in the adaptation of the defence lawyer’s assistance. The collection concludes with a transversal and comparative analysis of the effectiveness of defence and the independence of lawyers. With contributions from academics and practitioners from a range of backgrounds, the book will be a valuable resource for students, academics, researchers, and policymakers working in the area of criminal justice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781040388266
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/31/2025
Series:	Routledge Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice and Procedure
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	802 KB

About the Author

Ashlee Beazley is a postdoctoral research associate at the Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC), KU Leuven. She holds a PhD from the KU Leuven, where she defended her thesis on Poor Lawyering: A Comparative Study of the Quality of Criminal Defence Assistance in England and Belgium in 2023. Her research interests include comparative criminal law and procedure, European criminal law, legal history, legal ethics, and defence and fair trial rights.

Michele Panzavolta is Professor of Criminal Law at the Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC), KU Leuven. He has academic experience in different countries and has worked as a criminal attorney and as a parliamentary consultant. He specialises in European and comparative criminal law and procedure, with a particular focus on the protection of individual rights in criminal matters. His main research interests are in judicial cooperation and procedural rights, evidence, intelligence-related topics, financial crime and asset recovery, and cybercrime.

Andrew Sanders is an emeritus professor at the University of Warwick. He was head of Warwick’s School of Law from January 2019 to June 2022. He was formerly head of the School of Law, Politics and Sociology at the University of Sussex from 2015 to 2019. He has previously worked at the University of Bristol, University of Manchester, and University of Birmingham. At both Birmingham and Manchester he was head of department for several years. He researches in the area of criminal justice: prosecutions, suspects' rights, police powers, courts, and victims of crime.

Table of Contents

PREFACE. Andrew Sanders. INTRODUCTION. Ashlee Beazley. PART I: NATIONAL AND SUPRANATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON POOR LAWYERING. CHAPTER 1—POOR LAWYERING IN BELGIUM: JUDICIALLY CURED OR A FORCE MAJEURE?. Ashlee Beazley and Tuur Van der Wee. CHAPTER 2—INEFFECTIVE LEGAL REPRESENTATION IN GERMANY: EXAMINING POOR LAWYERING AND SYSTEMIC BARRIERS, WITH A FOCUS ON PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. Laura Farina Diederichs. CHAPTER 3—‘GOOD’ AND ‘POOR’ LAWYERING IN CONTINENTAL LAW: THE CRIMINAL DEFENCE LAWYER IN GREECE AS A CASE STUDY. Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos. CHAPTER 4—POOR LAWYERING IN ITALY. Michele Panzavolta. CHAPTER 5—POOR LAWYERING IN ENGLAND & WALES AND THE (POST-)APPELLATE SYSTEM: A REMEDY OR A PLACEBO? Ashlee Beazley. CHAPTER 6—LOOK FORWARDS, NOT BACKWARDS: A PERSPECTIVE ON LAWYERING IN THE UNITED STATES. Charles D. Weisselberg. CHAPTER 7—THE ECtHR AND THE ‘MANIFEST’ TEST FOR INEFFECTIVE LEGAL ASSISTANCE: TIME FOR A REWORKING? Maciej Fingas. PART II: POOR LAWYERING CHALLENGES IN PRACTICE. CHAPTER 8—THE ROLE OF REGULATION IN CONTROLLING THE STANDARDS OF COUNSEL AT THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT. Michael Herz. CHAPTER 9—CODES OF CONDUCT AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION: SHOULD THE BAR ASSOCIATIONS DO MORE TO ENSURE THEIR MEMBERS ARE MEETING MINIMUM STANDARDS OF QUALITY? Federico Cappelletti. CHAPTER 10—LESSONS FROM POOR LAWYERING IN ENGLAND & WALES: INDIVIDUAL FAULT AND EXTERNAL PRESSURES. James Thornton. CHAPTER 11—‘POOR LAWYERING’: THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY OF PRE-CHARGE ENGAGEMENT. Ed Johnston. CHAPTER 12—NEURODIVERGENT DEFENDANTS AND THE POOR LAWYER: HOW MIGHT DEFENCE LAWYERS ADAPT TO THEIR CLIENTS’ NEEDS? Tom Smith. CHAPTER 13—THE IMPORTANCE OF INSIGHTS FROM LEGAL AND CRIMINOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY FOR IMPROVING CRIMINAL DEFENCE PRACTICE. Lore Mergaerts. PART III: CONCLUSION—A TRANSVERSAL PERSPECTIVE ON POOR LAWYERING. CHAPTER 14—POOR LAWYERING IN CRIMINAL CASES: A CRITICAL COMPARATIVE APPRAISAL BETWEEN EFFECTIVENESS OF DEFENCE AND INDEPENDENCE OF LAWYERS. Michele Panzavolta.