I’m a lawyer who’s been working in the criminal arena since I was still in law school. I graduated in ’93, prosecuted for a little while, and have been doing appellate defense work – reviewing trials for error – exclusively since ’95. Doing hundreds of appeals and consulting on the thousands more that my office handles has allowed me to observe the trial performance of criminal defense lawyers from all around my state.
Accordingly, because I’ve worked on so many appeals of murders and other serious felonies and because I’m known as a “gun guy,” I’m often asked by licensed handgun carriers to recommend a lawyer who would be willing to take their call and come assist them if (God forbid) they ever have to use their weapon to defend themselves. I applaud this sort of responsible planning, and I’m delighted to make these recommendations – I feel much better steering these good folks to lawyers whom I know to be qualified instead of having them just pick names out of the Yellow Pages.
As any professional can tell you, some people are more adept at one specialty than another. (I can assure you that you wouldn’t want me handling your tax case!) Defense of serious violent felony charges is a real specialty. For something as serious as this issue, you obviously want an attorney with demonstrated abilities in this arena (pre-indictment, pre-trial and at trial).
A licensed handgun carrier myself for getting on thirty years, I keep the contact information for several select colleagues in my cell phone, and I happily refer others to these lawyers. Referrals like this are a good thing –anyone who knows a good professional from a hack wants to help other folks get the right person for their needs, and almost anyone is very happy to make this sort of recommendation.
[FONT="][1][/FONT] I personally always give folks three names of good people in a given specialty – that way they can have a choice and select the lawyer with whom they feel the best connection.
That’s fine and good for me and for the people I know. But what should a regular Joe – a law-abiding citizen who doesn’t know any criminal defense lawyers – do to get the name of a criminal defense lawyer with a good reputation and solid abilities? A skilled lawyer who’s willing to take his call and offer assistance should Joe be forced to use his gun in defense of himself or another? Essentially, you’re going to want to do three things: 1) generate a list of lawyers who might be good, 2) run it by someone who knows the reputations of the people on the list, and then 3) briefly interview people recommended by the person in the know.
Here are four ways to address the first step: getting a list of lawyers in your area who might be good for this sort of situation:
A. The best way to generate the list is to
ask people who know the reputations of local criminal defense lawyers – this simultaneously accomplishes step 2. Do you know any attorneys at all? A prosecutor who lives down the block, a tax guy whose kid is on your kid’s football team? Never mind that they’re not criminal defense attorneys – folks know or can find out who’s good in specialties different from their own. Or how about any police officers? Concealed carry instructors at your gun club or shooting range? These folks are likely to know who does good work in the criminal defense field. If you know someone like this, ask them for the names of a few of lawyers whom they’d trust to defend their wives if their wives were to be prosecuted for a self-defense shooting.
B. The
Martindale-Hubbell registry is also supposed to be a good way of finding lawyers. I have not necessarily found that to be the case with regard to the criminal defense bar, as I have noted that many (even most) fine criminal defense lawyers don’t bother to jump through the hoops that M-H requires to secure a rating. It also has more of a focus on urban practice, which might limit its usefulness in many areas. My local M-H criminal defense listing certainly contains several lawyers whom I’d be delighted to have represent me
[FONT="][2][/FONT] – but it also contains the names of lawyers whom I’d
never consider for criminal defense.
C. If personal referrals and M-H are not an option, you might consider
research. Start watching the news and papers more carefully. Over a few months’ time, you’ll start to notice the same several lawyers defending high-profile cases. Write down the names until you get three to five of them.
D. I’ve seen a lot of people advised to
contact the State Bar for referrals. That’s certainly an option, but it’s not the first one that I would recommend to a friend. I understand that my Bar’s referrals are from a list of lawyers who have met no other qualification than being in good standing and having stated that they are willing to accept referrals in a given area of practice. No one at the Bar is vouching for the lawyer’s aptitude in a given area of practice with such a referral,
[FONT="][3][/FONT] so I consider such to be merely the equivalent of opening the criminal defense section of the attorney ads in the Yellow Pages. There are a LOT of lawyers in this state who do criminal defense work – there are only a dozen or so whom I’d want defending my wife after a self-defense shooting.
Anyhow, use these methods to collect at least three names for leads. Now it’s time for the second step: running the list of names by someone who knows criminal law practice. (If you’ve already done so by using method A above to generate your list, move on to the next step.) One good way to do this is to talk to a police officer – these folks know who the stars of the criminal defense bar are (and aren’t). So, go in to a local police station and ask for five minutes of the duty sergeant’s time, or ask for input from a couple of street officers you meet at the lunch counter. Ask the question about who on the list the officer would hire to assisting a family member after a justified self-defense shooting. Try to get the officer to give opinions on the names on the list and to tell you if any should just flat be ruled out (not every high-profile lawyer is someone who would be right for this sort of thing).
All right, the final step is going be to call up the lawyers left on your list and mention that they were referred
[FONT="][4][/FONT] to you. Introduce yourself, tell them that you’re licensed to carry, and that you’re following up on instructions you received in your training to have the name of a good lawyer so that you’re prepared in case, God forbid, you ever have to defend yourself or another. (Many criminal defense attorneys are gun guys and gals, by the way, so you might find that you have a lot to talk about.) Ask the lawyers if this is the sort of work they do, and if you could swing by to shake hands and get some of their cards for you and your friends to keep in your wallets. These brief conversations should help you decide whether each lawyer is the kind of person you’d want to have representing you. No reputable defense lawyer that I know would charge you for this sort of brief chat, and most would be delighted to have their cards out in the world. (After all, it’s good business: you’re likely to refer them if someone you know is in need of legal work.)
Anyhow, this process should result in you having in your wallet the business card of at least one good local criminal defense lawyer.
By the way, people often ask me what sort of a retainer they’ll have to lay out for this sort of thing. I know hundreds of private criminal defense lawyers, and I don’t know of any of them operating on a “retainer” basis. Criminal defense work generally seems to operate on a fee-per-case basis. Certainly, you want to have a GOOD lawyer that you can call if you get into trouble. But it’s silly to pay a “retainer” to have a lawyer’s phone number in your wallet – for a case that is unlikely to ever happen. Criminal defense attorneys leap into action AFTER there’s a problem. I would be puzzled by a criminal defense attorney who demanded payment in advance to hand out his card.
[FONT="][5][/FONT] Around here, anyway, it would be most unusual for a criminal defense lawyer to ask you to put a retainer into his/her trust account against future representation. Probably s/he’ll just tell you to call him when/if you need him/her. Essentially what you’re doing at this point is just finding a person who would be competent to defend you in the (admittedly highly unlikely) event that something would ever come up.
Best of luck!
[FONT="][1][/FONT] While I understand that some states allow compensation from the attorney to the person who made the referral, I can’t address the practice. My state does not allow it, and I can’t even imagine ever accepting such for trying to do a good deed. If you’re in a state with such a system in place, you may wish to consider its affect on any referrals you receive.
[FONT="][2][/FONT] Although
definitely not the least pricey ones, and (not coincidentally) none of the folks who are in my personal cell phone.
[FONT="][3][/FONT] In fact, my State Bar’s website notes that inclusion of an attorney in their reference listing “does not imply endorsement or recommendation by the State Bar of New Mexico of any attorney listed.”
[FONT="][4][/FONT] I perceive that passing on the name of the person who recommended you will often get you treated somewhat better because the referred attorney 1) has a personal relationship with the referring individual and wants to please him/her, and 2) knows that someone is keeping an eye on his handling of your case.
[FONT="][5][/FONT] And, as a criminal defense lawyer, I would be at least a little suspicious of anyone who insisted that I take payment to represent him on charges relating to events that had not yet happened! :-/
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