First, the defendant must demonstrate that counsel's performance was deficient. Discover New Jersey's ineffective assistance of counsel standards for a claim involving trial, appellate, or plea agreement counsel.You can make a motion for ineffective assistance of counsel during your trial if you feel that your lawyer is not performing their duties. The whole point of our argument is that it is ineffective assistance of counsel because most of the people aren't qualified who are appointed. Claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel shall be raised exclusively on direct appeal of a final judgment or order. You can get a new lawyer to file an appeal on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel. Do you claim your attorney provided you ineffective assistance of counsel in your case? A defendant who wishes to prove that he had incompetent or ineffective counsel at trial does not have an easy road to hoe in convincing the trial judge. The Court of Appeals held that based on the record, defendant failed to sustain his burden to establish that counsel was constitutionally ineffective.