Choosing a criminal lawyer can be much more complicated than you imagine. In fact, taking into account that you are going to face a process whose sentence can carry a prison sentence, it is necessary to scrupulously follow a series of tips in order to end up choosing the most appropriate and the one that offers you the best guarantees. After all, there are hundreds of specialized law firms in all Spanish cities. Here we want to give you the appropriate recommendations to get it right.
Keys to choosing a criminal lawyer
Close and direct treatment
It does not matter if you use a lawyer of this type for the simple purpose of canceling your criminal record or if you need their services for something more serious, such as facing criminal proceedings of any kind. You will find a good clue about the subject’s professionalism as soon as you pick up the phone to make an appointment or to make an inquiry.
In this sense, a good criminal lawyer is the one who is interested in your situation, listens to your case carefully from the first moment, studies it and attends to you personally. In addition, he is also the one who does not hesitate at any time to meet with you if he asks you to.
Experience is a degree
Obviously, there are many specialists in Criminal Law who, just after leaving university, are magnificent professionals and possess impressive legislative knowledge. However, they need time to get used to the way criminal proceedings work. Therefore, the experience of the lawyer is the best guarantee of receiving a good service.
Think, in this regard, that if you had to choose a doctor to undergo a life-and-death operation you would not trust the first one to be found. Well, when choosing a criminal lawyer, the same thing happens. Keep in mind that not receiving the proper defense can undermine your interests and end up having to serve a fairly high sentence.
Specialized in the subject
Criminal Law, as with the rest of the branches of this discipline, is very broad. Therefore, the best professionals, after finishing their university studies, continue to train in specific areas with the aim of becoming the best professionals in a given case. For this reason, you should always look for the lawyer who shows you the most guarantees regarding the type of judicial process you are going to face.
The success rate
This is as important a matter as experience when hiring a criminal lawyer or another. And what is the use of extensive experience if the professional in question has not been able to carry out a convincing percentage of cases? Probably trusting him would be tossing a coin and tempting fate.
Therefore, before putting yourself in the hands of a criminal lawyer, it is vitally important to ask him for references about this fact. Furthermore, it is appropriate that you make your own inquiries. If you are a prestigious professional, it will not be difficult for you to find cases in which you have represented people in the same situation and you will be able to know if it was successful or not.
The costs
Obviously, you will have set a budget. It is possible that, with a good opportunity, you can make an exception and spend a little more, although it is normal that this is not the case. In this sense, the best criminal lawyers have rates commensurate with the seriousness of the matter they are going to tackle and the type of crime they are going to defend a subject against.
For example, the rates for the defense of a defendant for murder are not the same as for someone who has committed a criminal economic crime. This is something to consider.
Close to your home
You may find a good criminal lawyer in Madrid who has a long professional career, with an excellent success rate and who also has a rate according to your budget. However, if every time you have to ask him a question or attend a meeting with him, you have to travel tens of kilometers, it is probably not profitable for you. After all, what is not spent on your fees will have to be invested in gasoline or public transport.
Therefore, limit your search also by geographical issues. In addition, this will help you reduce your range of options and be clearer about the right decision.
First date without obligation
The first appointment is, plain and simple, a touchdown in which you will meet the lawyer and tell him about your case. Based on his experience, he will advise you on the possible options available to you, although he will not be able to go any further until he hires his services and goes on to study his case in detail.
Because you are in full search and it is still not clear which criminal lawyer should represent you and defend your rights, it is important that you look only at those professionals who give you the opportunity to enjoy a first contact without costs or commitments. In this way, you can stop to think about what sensations it transmits to you and if it seems to you a worthy subject of your trust or not.
Never choose a criminal lawyer without comparing
If you do not make an appointment with several lawyers, it is impossible that you can get a comprehensive idea about what you are looking for. Nor will you have tools to compare when deciding whether or not the right professional is for you. It is possible that you hit the key the first time, but most likely, considering the number and variety of options available to you, it will not.
The importance of accessibility
On many occasions, we need to have the services of a criminal lawyer at any time of the day or night. You just have to think about the possibility that you or a family member or friend will be arrested for drunk driving and exceed the legal limit that represents the border between crime and offense. If it happens at dawn, you probably don’t want your acquaintance spending the night in the dungeon and being able to face a speedy trial without being represented.
For this reason, if you need the services of a criminal lawyer for this or a similar reason, it is important that you trust a law firm that offers coverage 24 hours a day. And if not, then make sure that you can get in touch with him either by phone, email, or in person, anytime you need it.
In short, choosing a trustworthy criminal lawyer who gives us the guarantee of representing ourselves adequately is a process that requires time and takes many aspects into account. However, we are sure that, if you take into account all that we have just discussed here, it will be much easier than you think.