• Filed under , Appeals , Criminal Defense

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Today the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a rare en banc ruling, decided that criminal defense lawyers are required by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution to advise a client who is a naturalized citizen and wishes to plead guilty of the risk of denaturalization and then deportation. Firm principal Joel Rudin submitted a “friend-of-the-court” or amicus brief in favor of the criminal defendant on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (“NACDL”).  The brief was drafted by Matthew Wasserman, a former associate with the firm who is presently a lawyer for the Innocence Project. Previously a three-judge panel of the same court ruled the other way: that lawyers are not required to so warn their clients. All 13 judges of the Second Circuit sit en banc to hear an appeal only once every two or three years. The case is Farhane v. United States. One of the last en banc cases the Court heard was Poventud v. City of New York, an appeal that was also handled by Mr. Rudin, in 2015. In Poventud, the Court adopted Mr. Rudin’s position and held that a former criminal defendant may sue police officers for money damages for withholding favorable evidence even though, after the original conviction has been overturned, the defendant pleads guilty to a less serious offense.  Following this successful appeal, Mr. Poventud, represented by Mr. Rudin and attorney Julia Kuan, settled his case for $2.75 million.