Philadelphia attorney Daniel-Paul Alva, winner of the bid to start a new Office of Conflict Counsel in Philadelphia, said in an interview today that he is looking forward to proving “detractors” wrong.
The city announced its intention Tuesday, December 31, to contract with Alva & Associates to start a for-profit law firm from scratch to represent criminal defendants and family court defendants when the Defender Association of Philadelphia, Community Legal Services or the Support Center for Child Advocates is already representing another person in the case.
The firm will do the work for $9.5 million, which is what the firm bid, Alva said.
The firm will handle the first appointments in criminal cases and juvenile-delinquent cases in which the Defender Association has a conflict, and the firm will represent the primary caregiver in every dependency case, Alva said. The firm will take all new appointments starting March 1.
While the firm will be for-profit, “I did not expect to make one cent of profit” from city funds, Alva said. “No one is going to accuse myself or my firm of pocketing profit” at the expense of quality legal representation.
The new office won't make a profit from city tax dollars, Alva said, but from fees earned by referring clients' cases in other types of matters.
Through those referrals, the firm could help achieve the goal of “Civil Gideon,” a movement in recent years to expand legal representation for civil legal matters involving fundamental needs like custody of children or housing, Alva argued.
Karen Williams, an attorney who does court-appointed work, said in an email sent on behalf of other court-appointed counsel and herself that Mayor Michael A. Nutter's administration “has chosen to disregard the constitutional rights of an already disadvantaged clientele by substituting a conscientious corps of skilled attorneys -- who are, in essence, 'pro bono' – for those bound by the 'bottom line.' Rather than increase compensation for counsel who have labored long, hard and faithfully (even when not paid),” ineffective counsel will ensue.
Councilman Dennis O'Brien also opposes the plan. Funding a new law firm just at $9.5 million is not enough money, O'Brien said. If the system is "underfunded, criminal cases, even death penalty and homicide cases, are going to be dismissed under the speedy trial rule," he predicted.
And "when the system crashes and burns and we can't put Humpty Dumpty back together again, all the lawyers that were doing this [legal work] will have gone elsewhere," O'Brien said.
The standard of representation will improve upon the current model in which individual attorneys, often solo practitioners, are appointed by the court, Alva counter-argues. Attorneys working for his firm will be able to be more efficient than the current model in which there are “300 lawyers running from room-to-room and for the most part not getting in the rooms they need to be because they can't be in more places than one,” Alva said. There also will be oversight of legal work, and the firm will provide social workers and social services to clients, he said.
The First Judicial District has been cooperative, including agreeing to concentrate the firm's cases in certain courtrooms and on certain days, Alva said.
Some lawyers working for the firm will keep their own part-time practices, and their overhead will be paid for by Alva's new firm, he said. In return, they will pay a percentage of their profits from their other legal work in exchange for Alva covering their overhead, he said.
Alva, founder of the four-member Alva & Associates law firm, and Scott DiClaudio, who also has his own firm, originally submitted the plan. DiClaudio resigned from the project following social-media postings he made.
There were four other bidders for the contract: Ahmad & Zaffarese & Smyler, AskPhillyLawyer.com, Montoya Shaffer and Sokolow & Associates, according to the city's notice.
While Alva & Associates was not the lowest bidder, the city states in its notice that Alva & Associates would provide "superior quality, efficiency and fitness" as well as "superior ability or capacity to meet particular requirements of contract and needs of City Department and those it serves."
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