Quote Quoting flyingron
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Your professor probably wants you to do research beyond google and asking for the answer on internet forums.

The attorney always represents the individual in jail. A relative may help the prisoner find counsel, and perhaps even pay for it, but the attorney does nothing except on behalf of the prisoner.

I suspect around our area (can't vouch for Texas) that the impetus almost always comes from the prisoner. Either he calls an attorney or he demands access to the public defender.
Thank you for your response. The attorney/ adjunct professor directed students to google in hopes of obtaining a vast amount of responses from all over the United States. Perhaps I phrased the question incorrectly. I am trying to gauge who is the person who contacts the attorney in hopes of retaining counsel to complete a writ of habeas corpus for an inmate. For example, does the inmate call the attorney, or does a relative of an inmate call the attorney? What the research is trying to gauge is who does the initial hiring- not who is being represented. Therefore, the post is directed towards gauging the interest of hired counsel, not public defenders. Again, thank you for your response.

Thank you for your response. In Texas, as you stated, majority of writs are done pro se. My inquiry regards the rare instance in which an inmate/other person on behalf of an inmate hires counsel to perform a writ. Thank you again for participating.