The Future of Effective Assistance of Counsel: Rereading Cronic and Strickland in Light of Padilla, Frye, and Lafler

Two cases decided in March of 2012, Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye, when read in conjunction with Padilla v. Kentucky from 2010, suggest that there is significantly more room for judicial intervention in the relationship between defense counsel and the defendant under the guise of the Sixth Amendment than previously thought. These cases, taken together, squarely place the courts in the business of regulating the attorney-client advising relationship, including advice regarding whether or not to accept a plea or go to trial; the forecasts of the risks associated with going to trial and counsel's estimate of the likelihood of conviction; and the potential collateral consequences of conviction.