Def[endant] deceased." It was the judge's failure to fulfill that duty of care to enquire further and do what might be necessary that the Holloway Court remedied by vacating the defendant's subsequent conviction. Why, then, pretend contrary to fact that a judge can never perceive a risk unless a lawyer points it out? Conflict of Interestthe revolving door turns both ways. Cf. Under the Court's analysis, if defense counsel objects to the appointment, reversal without inquiry into adverse effect is required. Because a lawyer's fiduciary relationship with his deceased client survives the client's death, Swidler & Berlin v. United States, 524 U.S. 399 (1998), Saunders necessarily labored under conflicting obligations that were irreconcilable. 532 U.S. 970 (2001). This is so because we "unambiguously stated" that a conviction must be reversed whenever the trial court fails to investigate a potential conflict, post, at 9 (citing Wood footnote). Ante, at 10. Particularly galling in light of the first two cases is the majority's surprising and unnecessary intimation that this Court's conflicts jurisprudence should not be available or is somehow less important to those who allege conflicts in contexts other than multiple representation. Here are just five types of conflicts of interest: 1. Both Sullivan itself, see id., at 348-349, and Holloway, see 435 U.S., at 490-491, stressed the high probability of prejudice arising from multiple concurrent representation, and the difficulty of proving that prejudice. Id., at 488 ("[W]henever a trial court improperly requires joint representation over timely objection reversal is automatic"). We are angry about paying the highest income taxes and property taxes in the nation and getting less and less for it. The remedy for the judge's dereliction of duty should be an order vacating the conviction and affording a new trial. 435 U.S., at 487, 491. United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S., at 662, n.31. Id., at 489-490. ." To the extent the "mandates a reversal" statement goes beyond the assertion of mere jurisdiction to reverse, it is dictum--and dictum inconsistent with the disposition in Wood, which was not to reverse but to vacate and remand for the trial court to conduct the inquiry it had omitted. While the perceptive and conscientious lawyer (as in Holloway) needs nothing more than ethical duty to induce an objection, the venal lawyer is not apt to be reformed by a general rule that says his client will have an easier time reversing a conviction down the road if the lawyer calls attention to his own venality.10. While a defendant can fairly be saddled with the characteristically difficult burden of proving adverse effects of conflicted decisions after the fact when the judicial system was not to blame in tolerating the risk of conflict, the burden is indefensible when a judge was on notice of the risk but did nothing. In Sullivan, no "special circumstances" triggered the trial court's duty to inquire. This problem is typically found in . From the Court's vantage point, another compelling reason for suspecting a conflict of interests was the fact that the employer apparently paid for the appeal, in which counsel argued the equal protection question only, id., at 267, n.11; but, of course, this would have been unknown to the judge at the revocation hearing. Id., at 272-273. See id., at 274, n. 21 (majority opinion). See, e.g., United States v. Vonn, 535 U.S. ___, ___ (2002) (slip op., at 17) (error in judge's Rule 11 plea colloquy). The judge's duty applies only when a Holloway objection fails to induce a resolutely obdurate judge to take action upon the explicit complaint of a lawyer facing impossible demands. "[U]ntil," it said, "a defendant shows that his counsel actively represented conflicting interests, he has not established the constitutional predicate for his claim of ineffective assistance." Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. V), in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging, inter alia, that he was denied effective assistance of counsel because one of his court-appointed attorneys had a conflict of interest at trial. In June 1998, Mickens filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, see 28 U.S.C. 2254 (1994 ed. The declaration made in year 2007 are all. What Is the Agency Problem? It was shorthand for Sullivan's statement that "a defendant who shows that a conflict of interest actually affected the adequacy of his representation need not demonstrate prejudice in order to obtain relief," 446 U.S., at 349-350 (emphasis added). The lawyer's duty to disclose his representation of a client related to the instant charge is not only intuitively obvious, it is as old as the profession. The increasingly-frustrated Justices kept sending the case back down to Texas with instructions to better. This strategy was rejected as likely to backfire, not only by Saunders, but also by his co-counsel, who owed no duty to Hall. These statements were made in response to the dissent's contention that the majority opinion had "gone beyond" Cuyler v. Sullivan, ibid., in reaching a conflict-of-interest due-process claim that had been raised neither in the petition for certiorari nor before the state courts, see 450 U.S., at 280 (White, J., dissenting). Rather, we stated that "[n]othing in the circumstances of this case indicates that the trial court had a duty to inquire whether there was a conflict of interest. 397-398. Id., at 347-348. Pp. At those proceedings, testimony about the impact of the crime on the victim, including testimony about the character of the victim, may have a critical effect on the jury's decision. By Cleary Gottlieb on March 5, 2012. ("[T]he record here confirms that Saunders did not learn any confidential information from Hall that was relevant to Mickens' defense either on the merits or at sentencing" (emphasis deleted)). Conflict of Interest. A lawyer cannot possibly determine how best to represent a new client unless that client is willing to provide the lawyer with a truthful account of the relevant facts. This allocation can only be justified, however, by the defendant's consent, at the outset, to accept counsel as his representative. The one-page docket sheet also listed Saunders as Hall's counsel. (Emphasis added.). Bernie Madoff's scam is one of the most famous examples of a Ponzi scheme, which takes advantage of consumer suspicions and fears about the banking industry. Scalia, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist, C.J., and O'Connor, Kennedy, and Thomas, JJ., joined. 297. Id., at 272. Second, the conflict is exacerbated by the fact that it occurred in a capital murder case. Yet even with extensive investigation in post-trial proceedings, it will often prove difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether the prior representation affected defense counsel's decisions regarding, for example: which avenues to take when investigating the victim's background; which witnesses to call; what type of impeachment to undertake; which arguments to make to the jury; what language to use to characterize the victim; and, as a general matter, what basic strategy to adopt at the sentencing stage. On the merits, the Court of Appeals assumed that the juvenile court judge had neglected a duty to inquire into a potential conflict, but rejected petitioner's argument that this failure either mandated automatic reversal of his conviction or relieved him of the burden of showing that a conflict of interest adversely affected his representation. Loyalty to a client is also impaired when a lawyer cannot consider, recommend or carry out an appropriate course of action for the client because of the lawyer's other responsibilities or interests"). Id., at 14-17. and Supp. with duties entailed by defending Mickens.1 Mickens v. Greene, 74 F.Supp. Id., at 694. State's counsel suggested that in arguing for forgiveness of fines owing to inability to pay, defense counsel was merely trying to protect the employer from an obligation to the defendants to pay the fines. "2 Id., at 346. The problem with this carefully concealed "coherent scheme" (no case has ever mentioned it) is that in Wood itself the court did not decree automatic reversal, even though it found that "the possibility of a conflict of interest was sufficiently apparent at the time of the revocation hearing to impose upon the court a duty to inquire further." For a full comparison of Standard and Premium Digital, click here. But see Brien v. United States, 695 F.2d 10, 15, n.10 (CA1 1982). For the reasons stated, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is. Ibid. 1979, No. (footnote omitted). I believe that, in a case such as this one, a categorical approach is warranted and automatic reversal is required. United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 658 (1984). Under the majority's rule, however, it is precisely in the latter situation that the judge's incentive to take care is at its ebb. All known stories of conflicts of interest tend to point to one thing - an inadequate system for resolving conflicts within a company, as well as inconsistency in the practices used with legal norms. In most multiple-representation cases, it will take just such an objection to alert a trial judge to prospective conflict, and the Cuyler Court reaffirmed that the judge is obliged to take reasonable prospective action whenever a timely objection is made. Hence, if an investment bank takes any actions which are in their own interest but not in the interest of their client, then such an action can be called a "conflict of interest.". The majority rejected petitioner's argument that the juvenile court judge's failure to inquire into a potential conflict either mandated automatic reversal of his conviction or relieved him of the burden of showing that a conflict of interest adversely affected his representation. This is not a rule of law but expression of an adhoc "fairness" judgment (with which we disagree). See, e.g., Campbell v. Rice, 265 F.3d 878, 887-888 (CA9 2001) (reversing conviction under Holloway when trial judge failed to enquire after the prosecutor indicated defense counsel had just been arraigned by the prosecutor's office on felony drug charges); United States v. Rogers, 209 F.3d 139, 145-146 (CA2 2000) (reversing conviction when District Court failed to enquire on notice that counsel for defendant alleging police misconduct was a police commissioner); United States v. Allen, 831 F.2d 1487, 1495-1496 (CA9 1987) (finding Magistrate Judge had reasonably enquired into joint representation of 17 codefendants who entered a group guilty plea, but reversing because the District Court failed to enquire when defense counsel later gave the court a list "rank[ing] the defendants by their relative culpability"). It would be absurd, after all, to suggest that a judge should sit quiescent in the face of an apparent risk that a lawyer's conflict will render representation illusory and the formal trial a waste of time, emotion, and a good deal of public money. "A proper respect for the Sixth Amendment disarms [the] contention that defendants who retain their own lawyers are entitled to less protection than defendants for whom the State appoints counsel . For example, at the time of Hall's death, Saunders was representing Hall in juvenile court for charges arising out of an incident involving Hall's mother. In particular, we rejected the argument that a defendant tried subject to such a disclosed risk should have to show actual prejudice caused by subsequent conflict. United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 657-658 (1984) (explaining the need for categorical approachin the event of "actual breakdown of the adversarialprocess"). And that is so. Model Rule 1.9, "Duties to Former Clients," codifies the rule. An exception to this general rule presumes a probable effect upon the outcome where assistance of counsel has been denied entirely or during a critical stage of the proceeding. In this case, the relationship between an investment bank and a client (to whom it was providing advisory services in relation . Wood was not like Holloway, in which the judge was put on notice of a risk before trial, that is, a prospective possibility of conflict. Every state bar in the country has an ethical rule prohibiting a lawyer from undertaking a representation that involves a conflict of interest unless the client has waived the conflict. 79-6027, at 14-15, 27-28 (transcript of Jan. 26, 1979, probation revocation hearing). The relevance of Saunders' prior representation of Hall to the new appointment was far too important to be concealed. 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If it were otherwise, the judge's duty would not be limited to cases where the attorney is suspected of harboring a conflict of interest. Holloway, supra, at 491; see also Wood, supra, at 272, n.18. as in the case of Apple. When a risk of conflict appears before a proceeding has been held or completed and a judge fails to make a prospective enquiry, the remedy is to vacate any subsequent judgment against the defendant. 446 U.S., at 349-350 (emphasis added).4 This is the only interpretation consistent with the Wood Court's earlier description of why it could not decide the case without a remand: "On the record before us, we cannot be sure whether counsel was influenced in his basic strategic decisions by the interests of the employer who hired him. The Public Service Commission (PSC) found that 15% of senior managers in South Africa's public service engage in activities that could constitute a conflict of interest. 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