As a quasi-PD, I may be biased, but I have seen hourly-rate lawyers pass up excellent resolutions to a case for no good reason. My last jury trial is a good ex

As a quasi-PD, I may be biased, but I have seen hourly-rate lawyers pass up excellent resolutions to a case for no good reason. My last jury trial is a good example. There was a lot of mitigating evidence and the prosecutor didn't have a grudge against our client. A non-criminal disposition was discussed and tentatively agreed between myself and the prosecutor. Retained counsel advised against it and client proceeded to trial. Lost on the merits and now has a conviction for a dozen counts of fraud. Then mitigation evidence came in during sentencing and he got no jail time, just had to pay restitution. But he still has a criminal record. And he didn't need to have one. But the retained counsel got paid, so...