No. 1. The United States Constitution guarantees that every citizen accused of a criminal offense is entitled to effective representation. In my view, effective representation by a lawyer is dependent upon the lawyer's experience, thoroughness, creativity, aggressiveness, and professionalism. Of course, a lawyer is most effective when adept at both oral and written presentation of the rights and claims of the client, to whom he must be exclusively loyal.

No. 2. Not only should a lawyer take every possible lawful action to achieve the best possible result for a client, he or she should also promptly and fully inform the client as to each and every development in the client's case.

No. 3. Despite the lawyer having practiced for many years and having represented many clients, he or she should never forget that as to each client, the matter in which representation occurs may well be the most important matter in the client's life. Each client has real problems and real concerns, and his or her lawyer should be responsive at all times to any question or concerns the client desires to express. No matter how significant or trivial such question or concern may in fact be, if it is important to the client the lawyer should immediately address it.

No. 4. A lawyer should zealously protect the client's rights utilizing all proper means, and through experience and confidence be willing to vigorously advocate those rights in a courtroom setting.

No. 5. No lawyer should undertake the enormous responsibility of representing a citizen accused of a crime unless he or she is willing to acknowledge the awesome nature of such responsibility, given that his or her performance may well impact a client's liberty or other future life direction.

No. 6. Because a lawyer is the client's spokesperson in all contexts within a given matter, that same lawyer whom is selected by the client to be such spokesperson should fulfill that responsibility. Only with a client's knowledge and consent should an associate or another lawyer appear or act on the client's behalf.

No. 7. Because the selection of one's lawyer is a crucial decision to a citizen/potential client, that citizen should be encouraged to meet with a sufficient number of potential lawyers in order to intelligently make the extremely important decision as to which lawyer to retain. In order to encourage such informed choice making, a lawyer should not charge any fee for an initial consultation. That consultation should occur face-to-face with the lawyer, and not over the telephone, in order for a meaningful consultation to occur. During such meeting, a lawyer should quote a reasonable fee for his or her services.

No. 8. A lawyer should only undertake representation of as many clients as he or she can effectively represent. A "volume" practice may be good for the lawyer but it may be bad for his or her client, for whom "corner-cutting" is unacceptable.

No. 9. A lawyer should insure that communications with a client are confidential, allowing the client to rest assured that the lawyer can be made aware of the entire situation without compromising to any degree his or her absolute loyalty to the client.

No. 10. Virtually never can a lawyer honestly guarantee a particular result in a case. However, the lawyer should always be able to guarantee that he or she will do absolutely everything that is lawfully possible in order to vigorously protect the rights of a client.