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Things to Avoid
when looking for a criminal defense lawyer
Introduction
There are certain common
tactics employed by some lawyers in order to bully, frighten, or impress
potential clients into retaining their services. Many of them are
variations on the same theme.
The general approach that a person
searching for a lawyer should take is to be extremely careful to avoid
hearing only what you want to hear. People who are arrested and
their families are often desperate to be told that all will be easy, and fast.
The reality, however, may be that things will not
be so easy or so fast.
Many people seem to believe
that they need cheerleaders instead of lawyers. If you interview a
number of lawyers, the lawyer who predicts the nicest result is not
necessarily the "best" lawyer.
That is like suggesting that
the Doctor who pronounces you in perfect health is the "best" Doctor
while the Doctor who diagnoses you with a difficult and dangerous
condition is necessarily the "worst" Doctor. Go to the "best"
Doctor and you could grow sick and die. Go to the "worst" Doctor
and although it may be painful you may survive.
One of the hardest things I
think a prospective client must do is resist the enormous temptation to
hear only what he wants to hear. It also seems, unfortunately,
that many lawyers find it difficult to resist the enormous temptation to
give the prospective client the cheerleading they want.
I had a prospective client
come to me because he did not like the offer he was getting on his
felony gun case. He was currently being offered 2 1/2 years in
prison. He wanted 1 year.
The fact of the matter was (and
is) that under the circumstances of his particular situation, his desire
for a 1 year deal was not unreasonable. In fact it was sort of an
obvious solution to an unusual case.
His mother visited me
desperate for me to tell her that I was going to get her son that 1 year
deal. Time and time again I had to remind her that my belief that
1 year was a reasonable goal was not the same as saying that I
necessarily will be successful in convincing the Assistant District
Attorney to give it to him.
Getting any kind of deal is always
something that depends on the reasonableness of the Assistant District
Attorney handling the case. Occasionally my idea of what is
reasonable differs from what the Assistant District Attorney finds
reasonable. The conversation continued to go round and round,
however, because it became increasingly apparent to me that the
defendant's mother so desperately wanted to interpret anything I said to
mean that her son would definitely get the year deal.
How easy it would have been
for me to just give up and say that I would get the deal. It would
have meant that I would have been hired on the spot. But I sent
her home
to think about what I was telling her. She needed to reflect on
the fact that everything might not go as we hoped and that we might have
to take the case to trial.
I have not heard from her since.
She may have walked into a lawyer's office who told her what she wanted
so desperately to hear.
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Avoid Lawyers who promise
particular results
The lawyer who promises a particular
result in a criminal case is either a liar or a fool. You will not be
served well by either one.
No lawyer is in a
position to promise a particular result in a criminal case. Lawyers can
promise to do their best. Lawyers can believe in the quality of a case.
Lawyers can believe they will probably be able to get a particular
result. But a competent lawyer will never guarantee a particular result.
Not being willing to guarantee a result
is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of experience and wisdom. A
competent lawyer will never guarantee a particular result.
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Beware
of Dramatic Claims about Quick Dismissal
Be especially careful when someone
tells you that he thinks he can get the case dismissed or the case
should be dismissed or he can't believe the case isn't dismissed
already.
Cases do get dismissed, but far less
often than and not for the reasons that most people think.
CASES ARE VERY RARELY SIMPLY DISMISSED
BECAUSE THE PROSECUTOR HAS BEEN CONVINCED OF YOUR INNOCENCE. A running
joke among defense attorneys that reflects how cynical the DA's Office
and judges often seem suggests that they believe "probation is for the
innocent defendants."
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Lawyers
who have connections
Some lawyers may suggest or quietly leave the
impression with potential clients that they have some special connection
that permits them to get dramatic results. Whether this suggestion
comes after a reference to having worked as a former Assistant
District Attorney or by way of some political references, it is absolute
nonsense.
There are certainly
legitimate criticisms of some of the policies of the various New York
City District Attorney Offices. But they certainly deserve more
credit than to believe that their discretion is for sale to a group of
former employees or political "friends".
If these
"connected" lawyers were being honest with you, then the
District Attorney's Offices would be routinely permitting
criminals to escape justice simply by virtue of them having retained a
particular politically connected lawyer. As much as the writers
for television dramas and movies might like to believe such nonsense,
that is just what it is, nonsense.
Being a familiar face,
knowing the people involved, and having local knowledge of how the system
operates are important to consider when hiring a lawyer. But the
lawyer who suggests that his local knowledge extends to some
extra power of "persuasion" is behaving disgracefully at best.
Besides, even if it were
true that someone had some kind of underhanded "pull" with a District Attorney's Office, how would you know that he would be
honorable with YOU?
Hiring him would be like
making a deal with the devil. How could you be sure that the
way the lawyer maintained his "friendly" relationship with the
District Attorney's Office was by "rolling over" on some
select cases? Underhanded back room dealings are never one-sided.
One hand washes the other. Who is to say YOU won't be washed out
in the bargain.
So despite how tempting it
might be to believe in some kind of undercurrent of claimed or suggested
"pull", do yourself a favor and run the other direction.
Find a lawyer who
will stand on his own abilities and not on his political connections.
Political connections end or may require YOUR sacrifice.
Individual ability and
integrity will be there for you when you need them the most.
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Who
is Really Your Lawyer?
In selecting your lawyer, make sure you
are getting who you pay for. Sometimes defendants meet with
a named partner in a law-firm who impresses them with his qualifications
and experience. Once hired, this impressive and experienced person
never seems to be able to make it to court.
A classic example of this problem,
amazing with its frequency, is the attorney who gets paid to
accept a case before arraignment, and then manages to convince the
people who just paid him that it is fine if he sends some other lawyer
(typically a junior lawyer) to handle the arraignment. It is as if
arraignments are beneath the dignity of these attorneys.
Despite what you may be told by one of
these lawyers who is "too good" or "too busy" to
attend, arraignment is one of the most important appearances on a case.
Vital information can often be learned at arraignment.
Whether you stay in jail or are free while you fight your case is at
stake.
Don't you want the person you feel
confident enough to hire to represent you to make this critical argument
for you? Or do you want someone you have never heard of or seen
before to appear "just for the arraignment"?
Even if you can make substantial bail,
wouldn't you rather have your attorney try to make that bail as low as
possible so that you don't have to tie up money for bail?
Even more amazing are the attorneys who
get paid to accept a case and then suggest that you should "just
let The Legal Aid Society handle it". If you are allowing your
representation to be left up to chance, then why bother hiring an
attorney at all?
Yes, waiting for an arraignment is
sometimes frustrating. Yes, arraignments often have a way of
coming through at extremely inconvenient times. On the other hand, you are paying for representation, so
why shouldn't you get it?
If the lawyer you think you want to
hire is "too good" or "too busy" to go to your
arraignment, then maybe you ought to consider whether you've got the
right lawyer in mind.
But regardless of the lawyer you
choose, at least make sure you know who you are really hiring.
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Beware
the Lawyer Who Approaches You in the Courthouse
Imagine going to the hospital to have an
operation. As you walk into the hospital, a person who you have
never seen before approaches you, asks you what kind of operation you
are having, and then tells you he will perform the same operation for
some ridiculously low price. You would laugh in that person's
face.
The same principle applies when a
lawyer approaches you in the Courthouse hallway.
Lawyers who attempt to solicit your
business in this way are violating ethical rules and are subject to
discipline within the profession.
Do yourself a big favor. If an
attorney approaches you in the Courthouse hallway or entrance line about
representing you in Court, run the opposite direction.
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Aggressive Lawyers
A common description of
lawyers is "aggressive". Be aware that aggressive usually means
incredibly obnoxious and counter-productive for the client. Avoid
the temptation to attempt to find a lawyer based on the popular media
image of what a "good" criminal defense lawyer should be.
Aggressiveness is great when in its proper context. But lawyers
who do a lot of shouting and screaming on the record in court are
usually behaving in ways that come back to haunt their clients.
Often times you can spot such lawyers in court when they are shouting
and screaming and being difficult over nothing. The clients don't
realize that the issue is meaningless, but all the lawyers in the
audience know precisely what is going on. When such lawyers are
"performing" the joke among the lawyers in the audience will be that he
is "earning his fee." The reality is that every application to the
court need not be shouted or a source of "aggressive" conflict.
Non-lawyers in the audience
when one of these "aggressive" lawyers creates a scene over nothing are often abuzz with excitement. Here's a lawyer who
is not afraid to fight with the court. What the audience doesn't
realize is that most of the time these scenes occur in the context of
situations that have nothing to do with anything of significance.
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The myth of the high priced
"shark" lawyers
While high priced lawyers
are not hard to come by, the general public has been taught to believe
in the myth of the "shark" lawyer who can waltz into any case and
perform miraculous results. Seemingly bizarre results in certain
high-profile cases have helped to perpetuate this myth.
Forget it. If you find
one of these "shark" lawyers who can win any case for the right price,
hire him immediately. Then wait patiently under the Christmas tree
for Santa Claus.
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