For most people, choosing the right lawyer (or doctor, or accountant, etc.) is difficult. Our work is highly specialized, so it's hard for regular citizen to know what questions to ask. Below are five questions you should ask criminal lawyers before hiring them. There are fullness of other questions to ask, but there are good ones.
1. What will you do if the prosecutor refuses to plea bargain and insists on a plea of guilty?
New York Lawyer
The right answer is that your criminal lawyer will fight the case. In this situation, a defendant has nothing to lose from fighting. The worst that can happen if you fight is that you will be found guilty after a trial - the same supervene as if you plead guilty. Practically, it's possible that the sentence would be worse in this situation, but in my experience there is whether no inequity or a good result. Plus, you might literally win. A follow-up examine to ask on this is how much it will cost for the fight.
2. How many jury trials have you done?
The answer, hopefully, is at least five. For more serious cases you'd want someone with 10 or more trials. If the answer is zero, then you may not want that lawyer. I've had over 40 jury trials (maybe over 50 - I've lost count). Most of my trials have been in personal injury cases, but I have had a few criminal jury trials. On that thought, a good supervene up examine here is to ask how many criminal jury trials the attorney has had.
For felonies, you may also want to ask how many felony trials. I'm ambivalent about this one, because I've only had to show up for one felony trial and the prosecutor agreed to dismiss it before we picked a jury. All of my other felony cases have been resolved long before we got to trial, most of them favorably.
Similarly, if it's a federal criminal case, you should ask about federal trials. Colse to here those are a lot rarer and it's probably hard to find an attorney who has done a lot of them.
3. Who will deal with my case?
Most criminal lawyers are solo practitioners or work in small offices, and they deal with their own cases. Our office has grown and I have company who deal with sizable work. I ordinarily narrate their paperwork and do most of the hearings and so far all of the trials. I'm safe bet that having company do part of the work is literally good for the client. You get different sets of eyes finding at things and there's more chance of picking up key details.
The thing to worry about is that some lawyers have a "business model" that may not be good for you. It's pretty rare, but some lawyers who advertises heavily end up doing roughly no work on your case. They accept cases far from their office and have someone local appear for them. Unlike with an associate, there is small potential control.
For minor cases like traffic tickets, where the lawyer will plainly be negotiating a plea deal, this may not matter as much. Easy for me to say since we do that. But I don't feel comfortable having an covering lawyer do substantive in-court work for me on a serious criminal case, even on a Dwi (which I think is pretty serious).
4. How many cases like mine have you handled?
In general, you want a lawyer who's seen something similar in the past. If you are facing a Dwi, you want a lawyer who's handled a few before. If it's a federal drug case, you want someone with that experience. An attorney with no experience in that area is going to miss some details. I'm a much good Dwi lawyer now than I was four years ago. I've seen more, done more, and learned more.
Every once in a while I get a call from someone with a literally odd case. If you're in that situation, you're not going to find a lawyer who's had ten of them before. You should be finding for someone with general criminal defense experience and something at least vaguely related.
For traffic cases, this can matter a great deal. Our firm represents many out-of-state drivers, and the deals we try to get for them are sometimes different than what we do for Ny drivers. We have direct way to not only the Ny Dmv database, but also the Nj Mvc because we get so many New Jersey clients. Make sure the attorney understands your circumstances and knows how to deal with your single situation.
5. Do I have to come to Court?
Our clients rarely come to Court with us. Most of our appearances are routine and nothing of significance happens at them. It is a waste of time for our clients to come, and it can be quite stressful for them. By saving them the trip and stress, we are providing a real benefit.
Even for most hearings and even some trials, we do not bring our clients. They are literally welcome to come, and in some cases their participation is important, but we usually don't need them. Pre-trial hearings are mainly about what the police have to say. Clients rarely testify at this stage.
An exception is complex cases or white collar crime, where the client's presence can be critical. Even if they don't testify, they can contribute comprehension to the attorney that helps with cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses.
Those five questions are a good start. You should have more, based on the details of your case and your situation. Pick wisely and you will be a lot happier with your criminal defense lawyer.
Five Questions to Ask a Criminal Lawyer Before Hiring
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