IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN HIRING A CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY:
- What experience do you have with my specific kind of legal matter?
- Have you ever gone to trial ( & how many times) on a _______ "First Degree Murder case?"
- Do You anticipate the need to bring in outside counsel to sit as second chair with you?
- Just exactly what are the Cost & Expenses that the contract says I will be responsible for in addition to the retainer fee
- How Much do you anticipate I will need in addition to your retainer fee to cover such expenses as
- an investigator
- Expert Witnesses, such as Doctors, Mental Health Professionals, Crime lab techs etc.
- Evidence inspection, testing
- Photo copies, DVD's , Power Point presentation, Demonstrative Evidence for trial
- Crime Scene Re-constructionist
- Finger Print expert
- D.N.A. Expert
- Does this retainer fee cover the expense of any writs taken prior to or during trial or any other legal research and writing, preparation of legal memorandums, briefs, etc that may be filed with an appellate court for review
- Do you have the time to devote to a case a serious or as complex as mine?
- How is your staff paid for the time that they contribute to my case?
- How informed will you keep me on the status of my case?
- Based on the information that you have, what do you see as the best-case result for my position
- What Would be The Worst Case result for my situation
- What do you see as the benefit of going to trial vs accepting a plea (assuming one is offered
- What do you see as the downside of going to trial
- What is your policy on returning calls and or e-mails
- If the client is incarcerated, what is your policy on making visits to the jail and your policy on accepting collect telephone calls from the Jail?
