Firm to offer wider access to criminal defense

DAVID WEISS dweiss@timesleader.com

Lawyers Nanda Palissery, left, and Demetrius Fannick will open a new law firm, the Criminal Law Center P.C., in June. The firm will offer private representation at lower rates.

FRED ADAMS/THE TIMES LEADER

KINGSTON – Attorneys Demetrius Fannick and Nanda Palissery have seen it all too often.

Someone gets charged with a crime and then they struggle to find a dependable attorney.

Sometimes the suspect will get stuck with a public defender encumbered with so many cases the attorney can’t devote his or her undivided attention to the client. Other times, the suspect can’t afford to pay a pricey private lawyer for a devoted defense.

That creates clogs in the justice system, they said, and ignores the needs of a defendant.

The two seasoned defense attorney are hoping to stop that.

The duo is opening a new law firm, the Criminal Law Center P.C., to give more criminal defendants a chance at getting a solid defense at about half the cost of a typical private attorney, while helping to keep the wheels of justice in smooth motion.

“We’re trying to bring private representation to a larger segment of the population,” Palissery said.

The CLC firm, based in the New Bridge Center on Pierce Street, will essentially be the area’s first criminal defense firm, handling all types of criminal matters, from drunken driving to homicide.

It opens Friday. Fannick and Palissery will hold supervisor positions, overseeing two attorneys.

Fannick said he and Palissery over the years have seen many clients who fall into that category of being ineligible for a public attorney but unable to afford their own attorney. A single person, with no children, earning less than $9,800 per year is eligible for a public defender.

And while the CLC is not based on a client’s income, the firm will help those on tight budgets, even those who are eligible for a public attorney.

Here’s an example of how:

Someone charged with a first drunken-driving offense or simple assault would likely have to dish out between $750 and $1,500 for a private attorney to represent them just at a preliminary hearing. The CLC is set up to charge someone under the same circumstances about half that, maybe $350, Fannick said.

Fannick and Palissery had thought about opening such a firm in the past but were prohibited because of the county’s justice system.

Until 2006, the county was without a centralized location for preliminary hearings, forcing attorneys to scramble among locations countywide for those hearings.

That caused many hearings to be postponed because of scheduling conflicts, the attorneys said.

It also caused clients represented by public defenders to deal with a number of different attorneys at their hearings.

And it also drives up the price of private attorneys because those attorneys would sometimes spend half a day in one courtroom waiting to handle one case.

Once Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Conahan established a centralized location for those hearings through Luzerne County Central Court in 2006, it opened the door for Fannick and Palissery to start their firm and offer the defense at lower rates.

Now, one of the firm’s attorneys will spend a day at central court handling preliminary hearing for the firm’s clients. Another attorney will be in county court handling hearings there.

That will give the clients a personal relationship with the attorneys, instead of bouncing between different attorneys, while cutting down on postponements because of scheduling conflicts or because a client couldn’t timely find an affordable attorney, they said.

“Our attorneys can concentrate on what they are doing in court,” Palissery said.

Fannick and Palissery have hired Nicole Bednarek as one of their staff attorneys. They also have an offer out to another lawyer for the second position.

For now, the firm will be limited to Luzerne County. But, Fannick said, if business takes off as expected, the pair will consider expanding.

The firm will charge flat fees. They could vary by case.

But they plan on ensuring their clients are aware of everything that is occurring with their case, from arrest to bail to disposition to sentence possibilities to appeal, not just whiz them into and out of court without having them know what happened or what could happen if they violate their sentence.

“Our service is going to be also designed to educate the client,” Fannick said.

David Weiss, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7397.