Home » Video » Choosing a criminal/impaired driving lawyer
I’m really glad you could join me today because I’m here to talk about a very important topic. No doubt you come to our website because you’re searching for the right criminal lawyer or right DUI lawyer to do your case and in selecting that lawyer; you really need to interview the lawyer that you meet with during the initial consultation so you know that you have the right lawyer. I want to give you the tools to do that. I want to give you the questions to ask that lawyer and the questions to ask yourself before you hire a lawyer whether you’re hiring our firm or any other criminal law firm in the province, whether it’s a criminal charge or a DUI charge. You see, you have to ask the right questions and the first question to ask is ‘does that law firm focus on criminal law’, if you have a criminal law case. ‘Do they focus on DUI or impaired driving law’ if you have an impaired driving case? You need to retain a firm that restricts their practice to these areas. Did they have an experience in cases just like mine? You see, if you have a heart problem and you need heart surgery, you do not go hire a family physician to do, you know, a heart surgery. Similarly, it’s the same way in criminal law. You don’t want to hire a generalist. You want to ask the firm and make sure “are you devoted to this area”? Do you restrict your practice and is this all you do 24/7? In that vein, ask some questions: please spell out your experience, I’m charged with domestic assault, for example, I’m charged with a theft, for example. How many domestic assault trials have you done in the last year or the last five years? How many have you won? These are the hard questions to ask a lawyer whether you’re attempting to hire a criminal lawyer or DUI lawyer. You see, you’re trying to win your case. You do not need to hire a guilty plea lawyer. Many criminal lawyers in province will call themselves trial lawyers, you need to ask them how many trials they’ve done. You need a criminal trial lawyer to do your case. Secondly, does this law firm work with a team of lawyers bouncing ideas off each other in their case? Are there many sets of eyes on your files, for example? I can advise you that two heads are better than one in reviewing a criminal matter or DUI. No one has all the answers and it is a benefit to go to a law firm which has several criminal lawyers who work as a team so that’s the second question you need to ask. Thirdly, ask that law firm do you have former criminal prosecutors here? Do you have former criminal drug prosecutors working at your firm? These are important questions to ask. It is of such benefit for a criminal defense lawyer to formally work for the crown attorney either as a criminal prosecutor or a drug prosecutor. This teaches you to, you are able to get in the mindset of the prosecutor and you know the steps they’re going to take and then you can use that to your advantage as a defense counsel, so ask that important question whether they have former prosecutors at their firm. Fourthly, find out if that law firm is respected by judges, by the public and by the defense counsel? Are they respected by crown attorneys? You need to find that out and scope that out in some manner because that is so important that they enjoy a reputation as excellent, respect for ethics and presenting cases in a proper manner in a criminal courts. Fifthly, and equally importantly with every one of these other current questions, Are you comfortable when you meet with that lawyer? Are they appearing to come across in a caring manner that you can work with them and are they communicating with you in a manner that you can understand or are they coming across in an arrogant where you know you cannot work with them? These are the hard questions which you need to ask the lawyers that you are interviewing and these are the hard questions that you need to find out and ask yourself before you hire any criminal lawyer in the province or any DUI lawyer. Do yourself a favor and write down these questions and ask the hard questions.