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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 people to know what questions to ask. Below are five questions you should ask criminal lawyers before hiring them. There are plenty 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?
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 result as if you plead guilty. Practically, it's possible that the sentence would be worse in this situation, but in my experience there is either no difference or a better result. Plus, you might actually win. A follow-up question 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 follow up question 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. Around 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 handle my case?
Most criminal lawyers are solo practitioners or work in small offices, and they handle their own cases. Our office has grown and I have associates who handle substantial work. I generally review their paperwork and do most of the hearings and so far all of the trials. I'm confident that having associates do part of the work is actually better for the client. You get different sets of eyes looking 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 almost 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 little quality control.
For minor cases like traffic tickets, where the lawyer will simply 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 outside 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 better 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 really 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 looking 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 access 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 particular 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 certainly 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 provide insight 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. Choose wisely and you will be a lot happier with your criminal defense lawyer.
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