Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

(A)  Law in Effect At Time of Error.  The reasonableness of counsel’s performance must be judged by the law in effect at the time of the alleged error.  Counsel does not render ineffective assistance in accurately advising a defendant under the law applicable at the time, which was later overruled.  Counsel “is expected . . . to possess knowledge of those plain and elementary principles of law which are commonly known by well informed attorneys, and to discover those additional rules of law which, although not commonly known, may readily be found by standard research techniques.”[115]

[115] Smith v. Lewis, 13 Cal.3d 349, 358 (1975).