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“I gots to stay,” she said “I’m her mother”
“Tina is my client I have to discuss the case with her alone”
“But I’m her mother,” she said
I suppressed a sigh In juvenile cases, it’s never easy to explain to parents the need for complete attorney-client confidentiality From the moment I saw her, I knew Shanae Jackson would be no exception
“I have an ethical duty to keep client confidences,” I said “Things Tina and I say in front of you are no longer confidential”
“But I’m her mother” She stressed the last word, as if I hadn’t heard it the first two tiirl’s arrimace, Tina closed the book and set it on her lap
“In the eyes of the law, you’re another person I have to ask you to leave”
“I’ll find another lawyer,” she said, her eyes filled with accusations of s
“You can ask the Public Defender for the name of another laho’ll do this for a reduced fee, but whoever you get will tell you the sa”
Still glaring at ht that look would forceabout me Or maybe she resented the fact that, while she was too well-off to get a public defender, one glance at my dinky sublet office and she could see I was no Gloria Allred I was just another scra solo who took work from the public defender’s short list of private attorneys willing to represent defendants on the financial borderline
“White people,” she said, for no apparent reason
I didn’t know if she was smitten with her own voice or blamed white people for her lot in life, the rules of professional conduct or the price of gas Maybe she was disappointed at my color For the pittance I stood to earn from this case, I was ready to tell her to find a black attorney
I considered telling her aboutto the wall behind her at ers clubhouse through the door marked “KEEP OUT” Not so much to impress her, but to clue her in that she didn’t know jack shit about me
She grumbled, “This is bullshit”
I yanked open the bottoes, dropping it, with an intentional thud, in front of her “Here you go,” I said, flipping to the attorney listings “Call anyone And be prepared to pay dearly for what they have to say”