https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/authorized/does-a-defense-atty--ever-prosecute-a-client-or-ma-5007234.html?answered=true
Does a defense atty. ever prosecute a
client or make feel uncomfortable? Responsibilities that should be properly
expected of?
Avvo Rating: 10 Criminal Defense Attorney in Kenosha & Janesville, WI
No, defense attorneys cannot also be a
prosecutors against clients at the same time that they are defending them.
While many defense attorneys, including yours truly, were formerly prosecutors,
retiring from prosecution and switching to defending clients is usually a
permanent, one way move, which is rarely undone later. Even if it does happen,
however, and an attorney who once represented you later takes a job in a DA's
Office, his or her ethical duties of confidentiality and avoidance of conflicts
of interest would disqualify that attorney from prosecuting you or exposing any
of your secrets to the police. Attorneys take these professional
responsibilities very seriously and can lose their license to practice law if
they ever violate them. All that being said, attorneys usually try to have
candid, in depth discussions with their clients about the case off the record
and in private. That can sometimes include challenging them about their version
of the facts in private, in order to better prepare them for the real thing in
court later, when the DA cross examines them after they testify at a trial, for
example. That has nothing to do with prosecuting the client but is instead a
normal part of a trial defense. Anything said during these would be a
protected, confidential matters, however.
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