DO YOU NEED A CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER FOR ____________________?
One of the most commonly asked questions on websites is “I am charged with ______________, do I need to hire a criminal lawyer.
First and foremost, you should always consider the source when you are asking a question. Many people ask this sort of question on attorney websites or forums staffed by attorneys. Obviously those lawyers are answering those questions with the hope of gaining clients so you should take that information with a grain of salt. Even reading, my website you should do independent research to confirm what is accurate. Everyone has some biases.
That much being said the answer to whether you need a lawyer usually depends on a number of factors, many of which only you would know. For example, do you not have the funds to hire a lawyer? I understand that many people prioritize a lot of things over having a lawyer. But if your freedom is at stake, there are few things that should be more important than getting the best representation possible. I have seen a number of times where someone assumed that their case would go well and in order to save a few bucks ended up spending days behind bars. I imagine that left to make that decision again, they would prefer to max out their credit cards or suffer some other consequence than going to jail.
So the first thing you need to do to determine if you need a lawyer is to determine the consequences that you are realistically facing. The first thing you should do is to look at the charge, research it and see what the law states. If for example, you have a ticket for a speeding ticket, the law makes it very clear that you are only looking at a $250 fine. In that case, hiring a lawyer will cost more than its worth, so hiring one probably doesn’t make sense.
However, even if the law does call for some drastic consequences that shouldn’t be the end of your inquiry. For example, under Virginia law reckless driving is technically punishable by a 12 months in jail. Know nobody has ever gotten that much time. In fact, the vast majority of reckless driving tickets will not result in any jail time. So in order to get a better idea of exactly how serious or not serious your issue is you should at least talk to a lawyer before court. Or even better talk to 3. If all 3 say you are in trouble, then you probably are. If all 3 say you are not then you are probably ok. If you get a mixed response you should try looking for more advice somewhere else.
My advice tends to be almost impossibly conservative. I would much rather have a client not hire me, than to have a client hire me based on scare tactics, get into court, realize that it wasn’t that big of an issue and then think that I had tricked him into paying my fee. If you don’t hire me, that’s fine we can just our separate ways as friends. But if you think I’m a crook, that reputation will have a much more negative impact on my business than your money will. It’s simply not worth it from a business perspective.
That much being said, I usually advise clients you ask me if they need a lawyer of the potential consequences of their case, my fee and let them determine if the problem is worth having me solve. Sometimes I get hired, sometimes I don’t but we all know where we stand and have realistic expectations.
One of the biggest issues is that in Virginia a criminal record is for life and cannot ever be removed. So there are times when people will go to court and think that just receiving a fine is a good result. It may be. But there is no such thing as just a fine in Virginia. There is also a permanent conviction on your record. That may or may not be an issue, but if you want to make sure that you fully understand all the potential consequences that may come out of your court case you should talk to a lawyer before court.
