A criminal defence lawyer is the one who defends his clients or a certain company who are charged guilty of any illegal crime, in the court and in front of the judge.
Who is an attorney?
An attorney or a lawyer works as an agent or as saviors for many people or businesses, in the supreme court or high court or high court of the city and country. A lawyer possesses the power to interview his clients or companies about the allegations or cases charged on them and helps them to get rid of all the charges.
The lawyers fight for their clients with the help of gathered case defensive proofs and evidence. The evidence can be in the form of witnesses who in court speak their statement in front of the judge, in the favor of a client. Or the evidence can be in a form of contracts, videos or recordings.
The lawyers are the most knowledgeable and professional people to know about country law, deeply. They guide clients or companies upon the legal paperwork and contracts, and what steps should be taken in court to defame the false allegation.
Job description of a junior criminal attorney:
A basic junior intern lawyer is taught by many experienced lawyers and by different kinds of cases. They are there to help the experienced well-known lawyers by dividing their most of the work so that they can focus more on the upbringing of the crime case.
The junior lawyers deal with cases with small-scale situations. Non-major cases can be well handled by intern lawyers and primary lawyers easily, along with professional lawyer’s guidance.
The basic job description of a junior criminal attorney includes:
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They guide the clients regarding ongoing litigations and explain legal issues to them regarding their problems and concerns about a certain legal situation. To make clients aware and understand of the ongoing laws and how to deal with it, is very important to handle any case. Due to this, it is requested to talk to a client in the most clear and native language so that the strategy to solve the situation can be understood clearly.
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After listening to the case and going through all the basic detailing about laws and situations, the primary lawyers then develop strategies to resolve the case efficiently, cost-effectively and as early as possible for clients to avoid going to trial hearings.
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The primary lawyers and interns are used mainly for the development of contacts, deeds and wills for businesses or for individual people.
Job description of criminal defence attorney:
Before the trial hearings of any criminal case starts, a lawyer undergoes a basic case check to collect evidence and to form a strong defence case in favor of its client.
There are a few steps a criminal defence lawyer performs every day in order to solve the criminal case in favor of his client’s defence:
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The defence attorney first investigates the case by personally going to a crime scene, from all its focal points.
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He then interview’s the witnesses of the case to note down even the minimal, microscopic information regarding the case.
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Research is conducted on law codes and status of alleged crime punishment or fine.
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The lawyers go through different crime codes and procedural laws to find a way to demolish the blamed crime.
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A strategic plan of statements and evidence is formed and discussed with a client, to prosecute it in court.
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A defensive strategy is formed to make a strong case under legal obligations.
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Strategies and clear position of the case is shared with the client before any trials and hearings.
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Trial sessions and hearings are done before the actual case stands by in the court before the judiciary. Trial sessions make up the clients mind of what to say and voice-out in court in his defence.
These are the main objectives taken by a criminal defence attorney in order to build a strong defensive case.
Ethical responsibilities of criminal defence lawyer:
Criminal defence attorneys analyze the entire case and identify its strengths and weaknesses. From there a criminal defence lawyer can collaborate with his clients to come up with a defence strategy. A lawyer should be professional, experienced and well-known to its profession and laws of the country.
Dedication of time and commitment is very important in this profession as the person’s or company’s whole life verdict depends upon the court’s decision. A criminal lawyer will have to study his case or perform well-prepared trials and hearings late at nights too, to build a strong defensive case. This can affect a private life of a dedicated lawyer. A lawyer must be ready and aware of the case pinpoints at any time of the day, to defend his client in court in the case verdicts and final hearings.
Patience and intelligence
Criminal defence lawyers require a lot of patience and intelligence to collect evidence. Majority of the eye-witnesses or any kind of witnesses can get persuaded to step back from speaking up in court. Due to people living their busy working lives, they do not consider court a best place to speak up in favor of the victim, to avoid getting questioned by police and lawyers around them.
It is a very crucial phase of the case to persuade people to come up and defend the victim in court. This must be done efficiently and patiently by proposing rewards to them or by lecturing them about the basic humanity responsibilities.
Ethical value
The ethical value in law also defines that a criminal attorney must not take up any other case regarding representation, defence or any other legal help case, while already handling one case. This will make the attorney overloaded with work and might eventually affect the final case results. The lawyer must make sure that each case runs smoothly and without any problem.
If the lawyer is already burdened with a case, he must refer another client’s case to his other efficient and experienced colleague who should have a free slot to accept the case.
It is an ethical duty of a professional lawyer to keep the client’s case details and strategies, confidential from the prosecutor or from any other people beside the client himself. A lawyer must ensure that all the discourses with the customer are private, to avoid any inconvenience during the hearings.
Before taking up or indulging deeply in any case, an attorney must clear out the case fees and rates to represent them in court, to the client. If the client is not financially stable, a lawyer must consider the pay rates of the clients and have an honest conversation with them. If they do not come up with an acceptable mutual rate, a lawyer must be professional enough to guide different alternatives for it to its client.
Having in mind about the unstable financial conditions of the majority of the people, a lawyer should be considerate enough to understand the feelings of the victim clients and how they still have rights to seek justice. Majority of the people are unable to afford a lawyer to seek justice for themselves, lawyers must consider to do some of the charity work for them.
These are the some basic ethical values of a criminal defence attorney towards its society, while handling any case in the court.
Summary:
Ethical values of a lawyer is mainly the oath he takes while practicing in his profession. Cases of an individual is a very confidential matter of one’s life. While trusting a lawyer, a person speaks about the details of the case, openly and comfortably. A lawyer must take care of its honest values and ethics that can make up his successful name and years of experience.An attorney must keep in mind the values such as being honest to the client regarding the case position and success. He must clear out the quoted price of the case before taking it up. Feeling of humanity and understanding the pain of a needy person should be in the heart of a honest lawyer, so that he can take-up the case like its own matter. He must not give false hope to the client about time and that would be closed immediately in no time, when he already booked with other cases.
Criminal defence case process:
The Criminal defence case is passed through many processes in the court, before a final verdict is announced. As soon as a charge of a crime is stated in the police station, the process of case gets started.
1: Charges filed:
The statement of crime is reviewed thoroughly by the state to determine the strength of the charge. If the case crime is strong enough to punish the person through severe law codes, a case is filed for the court.
2: Arrest:
A victim or client of the case gets arrested by the police till the final verdict of the court, on the charged crime. From here, the family criminal defence lawyers or any other attorney comes in action.
The attorney takes up the case to study it and interviews his client in jail for each and every minimal information regarding the blame. A lawyer then starts its work by trying to find evidence and witnesses for the court.
3: First appearance:
The arrested person makes his first appearance before the judge. The judge studies the case again and determines whether the cause of arrest was vital. If the cause looks vital, the judge of the jury seeks to find laws under which the situation of the case can be settled through set bond amount and set bail money.
If the crime case is passed through the limit of settling it with bond money, the next step in the case process is taken up.
4: Arraignment:
In this hearing, a defendant is required to enter a petition of being guilty or not guilty. If a defendant criminal undergoes a plea of being guilty, the jury will announce to sentence him to jail for the amount of years the law states should be punished according to his crime.
If the defendant pleaded not guilty, the case will be scheduled for a pre-trial conference and hearings.
5: Pre-trial conference:
In this conference, the criminal defence attorney discusses the case details with the other prosecutor of the case. The defence lawyer tries to persuade and convince the prosecutor to take down the case by negotiating the reasonable plea agreement with him. If they reach a desired plea agreement, the case is disclosed.
If the defence lawyer is unable to reach a plea agreement, the pre-trial conference can be scheduled to further hearings in the case or the trial date.
6: Motion hearing/ Suppression hearing:
A request is written by a lawyer to the judge asking to suppress some or all of the evidence to weaken or subside the case, making it reach to the final verdict. In simple words it is a plea by the lawyer towards the judge, to come up with the final decision as soon as possible.
Beside the suppression plea, a motion request is filed too. In this request, it is asked by the lawyer to dismiss the case entirely in the court due to the case getting prolonged. If the permission of motion request is granted, the case gets dismissed.
This is the whole process of how the case reaches the court and how the verdict is being decided by the jury.
How to find a good criminal defence attorney?
If you or your loved one is being accused of a crime, it is very important to act smartly in this crucial situation. It is very necessary to choose an efficient lawyer for the case who can be a great help to dismiss the case without any serious damage.
While choosing a lawyer for the criminal case, the client must keep in mind the following tips:
1: Experience:
Experience of a lawyer plays a vital role in solving the case quickly and efficiently. An experienced lawyer would know the causes and consequences of the case immediately and can act upon it very quickly.
An experienced lawyer can reduce the jail terms or years of punishment even if a person was involved in a severe crime. He will use his all years expertise to get a bail as quickly as possible. Number of years of his experience is a strong indicator to decide whether to hire this lawyer or not.
2: Area of specialization:
Before hiring a lawyer it is important to check his area of specialization. For example, a lawyer can be a civil lawyer, a crime defence attorney, state lawyer, immigration lawyer etc. It is important to hire an experienced lawyer with a specialization in the crime defence field.
Due to this, lawyers in their specialized field will be more aware of the law codes and how to tackle the situation smoothly and what steps should be taken to avoid inconvenience.
3: Get referrals:
It is a vital basic rule in life that before buying a new thing, one should go through the reviews and feedback about it from other people.
Same strategy applies in choosing a lawyer.
A lawyer’s expertise and advertisements must not be trusted blindly. A person must ask about the lawyer from his friends or other relatives to get the idea, about his work. It will help to choose and invest in the right lawyer, easily. A client can enquire his friends about their prior experience with the same lawyer.
Popular search engines and yellow pages on google also helps to find a reputed lawyer easily. It is necessary to read all the reviews and feedback of the lawyer’s client before hiring him, so that a person must not end up with a wrong lawyer.
4: Price quote:
Before hiring any criminal attorney, it is necessary to talk about the fees and rates prior. To avoid later inconvenience it is very important for the client to state his budget clearly, which can vary with the complexity of the case and can also vary from lawyer to lawyer and because of their years of expertise.
5: Availability of the lawyer:
A lawyer should be available at any accessible or non-accessible hours or days. If a client got arrested at festive holiday times or at any other odd time of the year, a lawyer must be present for his client at any cost.
Delay in case proceedings and document makings can eventually delay the case for a long time, causing harm to its client.
Shortly, while hiring a defence lawyer it is important to interview him about his experience, his area of specialization and at what price he is willing to take up the case. A person must ask for other clients reviews regarding the lawyer before making any decision.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs):
Shortly, while hiring a defence lawyer it is important to interview him about his experience, his area of specialization and at what price he is willing to take up the case. A person must ask for other clients reviews regarding the lawyer before making any decision.
How much does a criminal defence attorney charge?
It is important to understand the intensity of the case before charging its fees. The cost of each client’s fee may vary due to the different types of criminal cases.
On average, a criminal defence attorney cost $200 to $700 per hour. This may vary with different kinds of cases and situations.
Who is the best criminal defence attorney?
Alan Morton Dershowitz is the best known lawyer in the world. He is an American attorney, political commentator, and jurist. He has spent the past fifty-years practicing the law and has handled a number of high-profile legal cases.
If I am innocent, should I still get a lawyer?
When you are accused of a certain crime, even if you are innocent you still have to hire a defence lawyer and go through the trial process till the final hearing of the case. The jury will announce the final verdict of you being innocent. Before that a lawyer is needed to defend you in court, in front of the judge and the prosecutor.
How long do criminal cases take to resolve?
The time period of a criminal case depends upon the intensity of the case and the bulk evidence gathered by either side. For example, a simple drunk driving case will take up upon one month, to end. While murder case can stretch to one, two or even four years, depends on the strength of strong witness and evidence.
Conclusion:
Crimes can be of different types and actions. A defence lawyer is obliged to be loyal to his client, no matter what type of crime he has committed or if he is innocent. It is the duty of the criminal defence lawyer to protect his client at any cost.