What Does a Criminal Defense Attorney Do?
There are many specialties in the legal profession, and not every lawyer gets involved in litigation. As a result, lawyers that do engage with specific kinds of casework that require courtroom arguments tend to focus on forming deep knowledge about key areas of the law. That means even within the world of criminal defense attorneys, you will find that there are practices that focus more on certain crimes, like DUI and drug offenses.
Negotiation Before Trial
In many cases, defense attorneys begin negotiation with prosecutors to see what they can get on offer. It’s a matter of helping you understand the costs and benefits of fighting at trial, and for some cases it is worth a little trouble to avoid disrupting one’s work schedule or custody time with kids. In the case of a DUI/DWI lawyer, you work with someone who knows the specific attorneys in the prosecutor’s office who get those assignments and understands their professional ethics and behavioral quirks.
This is important even if you go to trial, because knowledge of the tactics used by the other side is also advantageous. DUI lawyers also understand when there are process issues with the evidence because they spend so much time looking at these cases. As a result, they are best positioned to spot chances to get cases tossed out. The same is true with other specialties. A criminal defense lawyer that handles a lot of assault cases for security guards will be able to spot those process issues faster than a more generalized attorney too.
Litigation and Appeals
If there are no deals to be made and no process errors that toss the case, defense attorneys also have the courtroom experience to make a persuasive case to judges and juries. They also understand when those parties are not behaving as they should, so they are positioned well to help with any appeals a client needs to make. Courtroom argumentation is its own skill apart from just understanding the law, and performing well is based on understanding the other people involved as well as the particulars of the law in question.
