Can a lawyer (or law firm) issue a summons that requires you to appear at their office at a certain date and time? A summons was delivered to Mrs. P by a representative of the county sherrifs office with enough legal jargon to scare the hell out of the baby Jesus. They also sent her a $25 check. WTF? I know the court can issue you a summons to appear before a judge and there are consequences for a no show, but do lawyers have the same authority? I think not, but I just want to check anyway.
BTW - Illinois. It is not a criminal case. Mrs. P is not the defendant. It is a former employer that is being sued.
We went through a similar question a while ago in GQ, and the answer seems to be something like this:
A lawyer as a lawyer has no more right to summons or subpoena you than anybody else does.
A court has every right to issue a summons or subpoena to a witness regarding a pending case before it.
In many but not all jurisdictions, a lawyer has the right to issue such a summons or subpoena as an officer of the court relative to a case which he has before that court.
In other words, it saves steps. Without that right, the lawyer makes a motion to the court that X, who has information pertinent to the case, be summonsed or subpoenaed to appear before the court. The court then takes that information and issues the summons or subpoena, duplicating the paperwork involved. With that right, the lawyer simply acts in his capacity as an officer of the court to get the witness to do what the court would have had him do on the lawyer’s motion anyway, saving everybody time and costs. And all (American) lawyers are sworn as officers of the courts of the states in which they practice.
Well, I do know that in the federal courts, in the Northern District of Illinois, as long as an attorney is in good standing, all that’s required to issued a subpoena is the lawyer’s signature on a filled-out standard Federal subpoena form (AO 88 [civil] or AO 89 [criminal]). No further signature from the Clerk of Court or anything is required.
As for Cook County, we just have a stack of subpoenas in the office already signed by the clerk of court which we fill out as necessary.
But these are all for appearances in front of a court, not to a lawyer’s office.
However, and I am not a lawyer, as far as I know you can’t be summoned to a law firm’s office or anything. I asked the attorneys in the office, and they’re unaware of such a thing either. My advice? Ask a lawyer.
In Connecticut at least, witnesses are routinely subpoenaed by lawyers for depositions in lawyers’ offices–there are no facilities in the courthouses for depositions.
In California, an attorney at law is an officer of the court. Therefore, he/she is able to issue a subpoena, requiring your presence in a legal action filed in a court of the state. That can mean appearance at a hearing, or it can mean appearance for a deposition, with or without the production of documents.
I recall being quite surprised as a young attorney when forced for the first time to prepare a subpoena duces tecum that I signed, rather than using a pre-signed form from the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (before which I did most of my work). Something like three hours of unreimbursed research went into being certain I was correct; it seemed somehow, I don’t know, sacriligeous to do it. :eek:
I would expect Illinois is not substantially different in its discovery and witness attendance laws.
They’re criminal defense attorneys dealing in federal and state crimes (drugs, murder, public corruption, etc.) Perhaps I didn’t phrase the question correctly. I will ask them again tomorrow.
What you are talking about is a deposition, most likely. Depositions are a kind of discovery (the way civil lawyers gather evidence for trial). Criminal lawyers don’t do much discovery. Discovery is usually provided for in Court Rules, like this one:
Yes. That said, if the date and time is inconvenient, most lawyers who issue subpoenas (for deposition, which this apears to be) will work with you and arrange a mutually convenient time and date. Also, for a non-party witness, the dep. location usually has to be in the county where the deponent resides.
The check is for the required witness fee, plus mileage.
Otto, the respondent in discovery section doesn’t apply here. That involves the joining of someone as a quasi-defendant, and was a relatively recent addition to Illinois law that is rarely used execpt in situations where a statute of limitations
is about to run.
Well, the ordeal is now over. It was for a deposition at the plaintiff’s lawyer’s office. The lawyer for the defendant (Mrs. P’s former employer) went with her and that made the whole thing a lot easier for her. I’m assuming her role in the case is complete since she had no part in the incident which caused the lawsuit. She answered the questions honestly and the defendant’s lawyer said she did good. Thanks for the input. (even the stuff that was way over my head )
Just for completeness’ sake, I did ask them today and one of the attorneys said “Oh, it didn’t even occur to me you were asking about despositions. Of course attorneys can compel you to come to a deposition, but in that case, they are acting as an office of the court.” Which is, of course, what Polycarp originally said.
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