Blog

The Qualities to Look for in a Criminal Lawyer

One of the most important choices you may need to make in your life is choosing a criminal lawyer to defend you in court. It can be quite a scary decision to make as it may greatly impact your life moving forward. Every person has certain rights and one of them is a guarantee of a fair trial. Part of that fair trial is having a good lawyer represent you which is why you need to do your research and choose carefully. Hopefully, with this text, we’ll be able to help you choose your criminal lawyer and ensure that you will have a high-quality representative in court to defend you. So, let’s go over the main qualities we recommend looking for.


  1. Qualified and experienced


Of course, the most basic thing you should be looking for in potential candidates is whether or not they have the proper qualifications and adequate experience for the job. You want someone who not only has the credentials required but has also spent a fair deal of time in courtrooms already. The more experience they have, the likelier it is that they will be able to properly defend you during your hearing.


  1. Excellent communication


You want a lawyer who’s great both at speaking and listening. They need to be able to speak properly on your behalf so they can represent you, but listening is also a key skill so they can hear your statements and the other side in the courtroom and be able to formulate as good of a defense strategy as possible. When looking at different lawyers, note down those who seemed to be excellent communicators.


  1. Is connected to the local legal system


One thing that is important to understand is that each city, county, and state have its differences from each other and it’s important to be represented by someone who not only knows the specific regulations surrounding your case but is also connected to the legal system in that area and knows people there as it can help them far better prepare both you and themselves for the courtroom and will improve your odds.


  1. Good analytical skills


You’ll want a lawyer who can analyze all the information he has available to him, both in terms of evidence and also statements given by the other side, and be able to use them to their fullest to figure out what would be the best actions moving forward. Analyzing the situation around them and calmly reaching the best conclusion is a skill that is pretty much necessary to have as a good criminal lawyer.


  1. Aggressive when necessary


While lawyers are generally recognized for being calm and collected it is necessary to sometimes be aggressive and leverage this to further increase their odds of winning the case and protecting you as best as they can. A good lawyer needs to know when they should be passive and when they should show a little bit of aggression. This fine balance can be what makes or breaks a lawyer in some cases.


  1. Personal investment


The outcome of the case can and likely will greatly impact how your life will look moving forward. Having a lawyer who isn’t at least somewhat personally invested in the outcome of that case would be weird, and you should make sure that yours cares about the outcome more than just it being a positive or negative mark in their history as a lawyer and who cares about whether your life will continue normally afterward. An invested lawyer is a good lawyer and one that will exhaust all possible options for you.


  1. Integrity


A good criminal lawyer needs to have a strong sense of morals and the integrity necessary to be able to properly defend her case in the courtroom. A good lawyer shouldn’t only be doing their job for the money, but also because they feel it necessary that justice should be upheld and make sure that your case is listened to properly.


Conclusion


Many things make a good criminal lawyer, but we believe we’ve listed the most important ones that you should look for in case you need one as it’s such an important decision and it certainly shouldn’t be rushed. Take great care when making this choice. We wish you the best of luck and hope that you will be able to find someone who will make sure that your rights are upheld to the best of their ability.


Legal