The Questions You Need To Be Asking Your Criminal Defense Lawyer
A fully informed client is the best type of client - any good law office will tell you that, including Clark, Clark & Noonan, LLC. By understanding what questions you should be asking of a lawyer before hiring them you will be in a good place to hire one that is well suited to your individual case. The decision on which lawyer you hire is a very important one and is not something that should be taken lightly.
However, it is not enough to simply rely on the slick marketing blurb that is on their website or flashy TV adverts. The only true way of finding out if a lawyer is right for you is by meeting them in person, face to face. Doing this allows you to determine what experience they have, along with any relevant qualifications. In addition to this, you will also get a feel for the lawyer and work out if you could work with them for the duration of your case. Getting on with your lawyer is important to achieve a successful outcome. Just like Phoenix top criminal lawyer, who has a proven track record of success and a reputation for providing top-notch legal representation, a good lawyer should be able to demonstrate their expertise, knowledge, and skill in handling cases similar to yours.
Below are some of the questions that you should ask of theft defense lawyers before deciding on which one to hire for your case.
Do you give a free consultation?
It is vitally important to be able to sit with a lawyer and talk through all the finer details of your case so that they can get a good understanding of it. Doing this is something that cannot be achieved over the course of a short telephone conversation - it requires a face to face chat that consists of a two way dialogue. Similarly, if you only have a faceless telephone conversation, it can be difficult to work out if you will get on with the lawyer or not, something that is very important.
During the consultation, you should discuss what charges have been raised against you and what the specific facts are. In addition to this, you should also talk about what happened during the arrest, what was said, what the actions of the police were, if your rights were violated at all, and what your defense is. You need to also share with the lawyer any criminal history that you may have, what your education level is and employment status, and if you have any issues relating to immigration.
Are you focused on criminal law?
Different to medical doctors that specialize in a particular area, many lawyers work across all parts of the law rather than focusing on a particular topic - this is known as general practice. Those lawyers who do this are seen as a jack of all trades, knowing small bits about lots of different parts of the law. However, when your case hangs in the balance, you want a lawyer who knows alot about the particular area of law that concerns you. For instance, you would not go and see an osteopath if you have problems with your heart, and law is no different.
Only by spending lots of time in court and in front of a judge is a lawyer able to build up the knowledge and learn the practices of being able to defend clients. This is particularly useful if many of these cases were very similar to your own, as the lawyer will know the best angle of attack in order to get a successful outcome.
What is the cost of the legal fees?
Given the sensitive nature of fees, this can be an awkward topic for some people to bring up and ask questions about. Although you want the very best possible lawyer who will win your case for you, you also do not want to hire one that you simply cannot afford. If you ask this question of a lawyer and they do not give you a straight answer then this should immediately set your alarm bells ringing. There are a number of different ways that criminal defence lawyers work out what their fees are. For instance, some of them charge by the hour, but this can be very costly, especially if your case goes on for many months.
Some lawyers work off of a flat / fixed fee that does not change regardless of how long the case takes. This way you pay all of the fees up front and that is it, there are no extra surprises further down the line. That being said, this may not include the cost of going to court (which can be expensive) - if that is the outcome for your particular case.
How accessible are you?
For those people who have never before gone through the process of being charged with an offence and having to deal with a lawyer, it can be a stressful time that brings up lots of different questions. It may even cause you to lose sleep. For this reason, you want a lawyer who is easily available for you to contact when one of these questions comes into your head, even if it is out of normal office hours.
For this very reason, you need to establish if they have a live answering service that is available to access all of the time. You also need to find out if they will provide you with their own personal contact telephone number so that you are able to directly communicate with them, and if they are able to work around what ever your schedule may be, including be available to meet at the weekend or in the evening.
Takeaway
Once you have had all of these questions answered you will be able to make a decision on whether or not you want to hire a particular criminal defence lawyer. Things to remember include do they provide you with a free consultation to talk over your case in detail, are they specialized in an area appropriate for your specific case, how much will they cost to hire, and are they easily accessible so that you can ask questions and work on your case at times that best suit you.
