Lack of a Secretary Leads to Asst. Public Defender Losing His Job

The backdrop of the recent job loss of Russell P. Martin, part-time Assistant Public Defender in Fulton County was reported on Sunday by the Gloversville Leader Herald. And as the story reveals, the principal reason that Martin was fired by Fulton County Public Defender Gerard McAuliffe was possibly due to his inability to communicate in time with his clients.

Despite Martin asserting that he had missed only one court date this year, in a case that was transferred to Montgomery County, it seems there are few reasons but that which can explain his job loss.

There seems to be no allegation of any wrongdoing against Martin, who has been serving in his part-time job since 2001.

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However, he admitted to the Gloversville Leader Herald that he had not been able to afford a secretary for his private law practice since 2011, and that affected his ability to communicate with clients. Sometimes, when he is in court for consecutive days, it became difficult to check his answering machine.

Speaking on the reason for his dismissal he said it was difficult to answer and "mostly a secretarial thing." He maintained that he had an excellent reputation in the Family Court, where he did most of his work and was assigned an average of five trials a day before he was fired on Aug 21, this year.

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County records indicate that Martin, who is also the chairman of the Johnstown City Republican Committee, used to earn about $35,000 from the county per year as part-time public defender.

While Martin did not assert any foul play or political reasons for the dismissal from his job, it remains that Martin's wife, Helen is current 3rd Ward councilwoman of Johnstown and a city mayoral candidate.

Martin has always maintained a small private practice in Gloversville.

The takeaway from this story is that secretaries do play a very vital role in the life of lawyers who are increasingly busy with their responsibilities. And the lack of a secretary can make significant differences to the practice of a lawyer, though many attorneys fail to realize that until the damage is done.