What questions should I ask my criminal defense attorney?

When you’re in the market for a criminal defense lawyer, you’ll want to review your options carefully. Ultimately, you’ll want to find a lawyer who you can enjoy working with, who you can trust and who has the level of expertise you require for the most favorable result possible. Since you’re the one who’s footing the bill, you’ll want to treat your search for a lawyer as if you’re hiring someone for a specific job.

In this sense, you should interview your prospective attorney and consider asking him or her the following questions:

• How much experience do you have handling a criminal defense that’s similar to mine?
• How much of my case are you going to be handling yourself, and how much will other attorneys and/or support staff be managing?
• How many cases have you taken all the way to a jury trial?
• Do you often negotiate plea agreements? Have you been successful negotiating a plea agreement to get a lesser charge for your client?
• How do you calculate your attorneys fees? Do you have an idea how much the attorneys fees will be in my case? Do you have a payment plan?
• Do you have references from previous clients who I can call?

The above questions are reasonable and they should not anger or upset any prospective attorney. Your attorney knows that you need to do your due diligence to vet and assess any prospective lawyer before hiring him or her. As such, your lawyer shouldn’t get upset in these circumstances, but if he or she does, you might want to consider other more rational and mature options.

Source: FindLaw, “Hire a criminal defense lawyer,” accessed Dec. 22, 2017