Questions to Ask Your Criminal Defense Attorney at the Free Consultation
Time is of essence when it’s a criminal lawsuit you are facing. Even the top-most criminal attorneys in Denver require adequate time to rake up resources that would make for a strong and winning case. That makes it exceedingly important to seek legal help with urgency so that the hired lawyer has an adequate window to do his or her groundwork.
But all the same, you need some time of your own to vet the attorney you are putting in charge of the case. So, to help you cut to the chase, we have brought to you a set of questions that will offer insights into whether a lawyer is eligible to lead the case to its desired ending or not.
Here are the question you want to ask a concerned criminal defense attorney during the free consultation.
How Many Years Are You Into Criminal Law?
It’s imperative to find out if the attorney you are hiring is new to criminal law or have been practicing for a while. A lot depends on that. A criminal case, no matter how straightforward or convoluted require significant experience. You want to hire an attorney who has considerable experience in criminal law and a record of handling not fewer than ten cases at the very least.
How Often Do You Do Trials?
There is more than one way of settling a case, and one of them is out of court. Criminal defense lawyers very often settle plea bargains and similar cases out of court. While that works in some situations, you do not want to hire someone who has no experience in trial at all. That could make settling a case in trial tricky. So, go with someone who is not new to trials.
What’s Your Specialization in Law?
Criminal law is a big umbrella, under which comes a miscellany of cases. Some lawyers specialize in handling a specific type of criminal case, while others in other types. You want to be sure that the attorney you are considering hiring has copious experience handling your specific type of case.
Will YouBe Personally Working on My Case or Will You Let a Paralegal Do It?
This is a question you want to clarify right at the time of the interview before going forward. Bigshot criminal lawyers Denver CO often hire paralegals and associates to handle small and winnable cases while they save the critical and challenging ones for themselves. This saves them money as paralegals don’t bill at equally high rates. You want an attorney who’d personally handle your case than outsource it to associates of whom experience and expertise are both limited.
What’s the Estimated Cost of Your Solicitation?
Attorneys charge by the hour. So, every case cost differently. The longer your case takes to resolve in the court, the costlier it would be. So, it behooves a client to ask for an estimated cost so that they don’t face any unpleasant surprises in the end. Chances are, your attorney will quote a flat rate for his or her service and that should comprise all probable secondary costs too.
What’s Your Approach Going to Be?
It’s important to find out in what way an attorney will approach your case. This might vary from one lawyer to the next. So, interviewing more lawyers will give you a better scope of choice. Start by asking if they would go the out-of-court-settlement way or take it to the court.
The answers to these questions should tell you if a potential lawyer is qualified to capably handle your case.
