What is the role of a trial attorney in determining the cause or defense of a defendant?

California, United States of America

The following excerpt is from Hillman v. Stults, 263 Cal.App.2d 848, 70 Cal.Rptr. 295 (Cal. App. 1968):

As the court stated in Duffy v. Griffith Co., 206 Cal.App.2d 780, 787, 24 Cal.Rptr. 161, 165, 'The trial attorney is in full charge of his client's cause or defense * * * he must determine in the first instance what defenses shall be averred and what potential ones shall be omitted. At the trial he must have and exercise discretion to make such tractical decisions as the exigencies of the combat may dictate. His is the legal knowledge and skill that must be consulted in that connection, not the views of a layman; * * * Specifically his is

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