Good Criminal Defense Attorneys
I was once sitting in court waiting to call my case. My client was charged with a drug offense and I had spent two months working out a deal in which the case would be dismissed in twelve months in exchange for a fine and probation. The case ahead of me was a pornography case in which the defendant was accused of possessing hundreds of illegal images.
His criminal defense attorney took the podium. He was wearing jeans (they were black, but they were still jeans), a suit coat that was covered in stains, and a tie with the top button of his shirt unbuttoned. His client was facing 200 counts of felony pornography offenses, along with a few other offenses, and his criminal defense attorney had him plead guilty to 100 of them. The defendant was elated: he’d just gotten 100 charges dropped. Imagine the look on his face when the judge sent him to prison for a period of no less than six years to life.
I’ve seen this pattern before with some criminal defense attorneys where they look at a case analytically. Certainly, having 100 charges dropped is a big deal, but what did it matter if your client still received a life sentence?
It’s difficult to tell a good criminal defense attorney from a bad one, so I thought I would share some of the rules of thumb I’ve seen in my experience as a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney.
Rule 1
If your criminal defense attorney is rude to you on the phone, he will be rude to you in person. You are the customer: don’t ever forget that. You are paying him to service your case and achieve your goals. What if you called a car mechanic to have your car repaired and he was a jerk to you on the phone? Would you trust him to work on your car? Probably not. So don’t take rudeness from a potential attorney: you don’t deserve it.
Rule 2
If your criminal defense attorney guarantees you a victory or a specific outcome, run. I always speak in probabilities when discussing a potential case with someone. For example, historically, I’ve gotten this number of cases similar to yours dismissed or this number we’ve worked out a deal on etc. I feel that gives the client some idea what they can expect but does not guarantee anything.
I’ve had many clients come to me and say, “So and so attorney guaranteed that they could get my case dismissed.” I always then ask, “Well, without looking at one piece of evidence, without watching any videos of the offense, without speaking to a single witness or even the police, how would this attorney possibly know that he can get your case dismissed?” The answer of course, is that they can’t and they’re lying to you to get you to hire them.
If they’re willing to lie to you the first time they meet you, you can expect more of it down the line.
Rule 3
If the criminal defense attorney says “I’ve been practicing for this many years and so I know what I’m doing,” you should seriously consider not hiring them. The worst attorneys I know have been practicing for over 40 years. Let me say that again: THE WORST ATTORNEYS I KNOW HAVE BEEN PRACTICING FOR OVER 40 YEARS.
Just because an attorney is young, it speaks nothing of their skills. And just because an attorney has been practicing 40 years doesn’t mean they’ve been practicing well. They could have 40 years of experience screwing up their client’s cases.
A much better question to ask is “How may jury trials have you done?” The worst attorneys don’t like doing jury trials because they take an enormous amount of work and preparation.
Of course, an unethical attorney can lie to you about the number of jury trials they’ve done, but hopefully you’ll be able to tell.
Rule 4
If a criminal defense attorney judges you, that’s probably not an attorney you want to stick with. I had one client that hired me after she fired her attorney because he told her she deserves to be in jail and that she needs to learn her lesson. Well sorry, but that’s not the job of the criminal defense attorney. Their job is to do everything in their power to make sure their client doesn’t go to jail in the first place.
Your defense attorney should be caring and confident: they should make you feel better, not worse.
Rule 5
A good criminal defense attorney should be with you every step of the way. Many attorneys tell their clients to go into court by themselves on certain types of hearings because the attorney is not needed there. I attend every single one of my clients hearings because people are frightened in court. It’s an unfamiliar environment and is extremely intimidating. I figure my client needs me there to explain what’s going on and walk them through the process.
I go as well because I want to make certain that nothing goes wrong. Even on a first hearing, unexpected things pop up and the attorney needs to be there to figure out a solution.
Final Rule
Go with your gut. It’s difficult to come up with a more suscinct explanation than that. If you meet with an attorney and he gives you the creeps, or you speak with him on the phone and it’s clear he has no idea what he’s talking about, don’t hire him. There are plenty of options and you should feel good about your choice.
By Yossof Sharifi
Google