Attorney John Paul Marchan

How to Find The Best Criminal Defense Attorney

If you find yourself under arrest for a crime, it’s so important to get the best criminal defense attorney that you can to represent you. All too often public defenders are buried under an unending load of cases & cannot fully commit the time, attention, energy & understanding you deserve when facing charges in a court of law. While a public defender may mean well, that alone is not enough to be sure you are receiving the best legal representation that you deserve.

If you are looking online for a lawyer to help defend you, it pays to do your homework. Lawyers pay a lot of money to fiercely compete to be found first on Google. For example, in 2019, there were 18,100 online searches in the United States for “criminal lawyer”. Those law firms who run advertising on Google were willing to pay up to $40.38 for each time someone clicked on their ad to be bought to their website! Do the deep pockets here represent a numbers game more than they do top-quality legal help? It is likely possible. It’s better to look through search results that come up in Google searches than to simply click on the ads, and then really look at the client testimonials, the legal qualifications, length of service & legal specialty areas of a lawyer to make a wise choice.

Don’t be afraid to call a law office and request a free consultation to discuss your case. This opens up the dialogue and may provide you with some good free of cost legal advice, whether you decide to choose this defense attorney or not. The lawyer may be able to tell you more about the charges against you & what you might be able to expect moving forward. A good lawyer will be transparent about the costs involved to defend you & many great defense attorneys are willing to work this out with you in a way that will work for both of you.

Don’t be discouraged if the lawyer you call isn’t readily available to take your call. Oftentimes, they may already be in court defending another case. Think about it- it’s not always the case, but if a lawyer is sitting there waiting for the phone to ring, should that be a possible red flag? On the other hand, the person you talk to should be able to commit to a relatively quick timeline for a call back from the lawyer. If you are seeming to wait to long, or don’t receive a call back within the agreed upon timeline, or if the lawyer doesn’t sound confident, or is tired or seems too busy to talk to you for long, it may be in your best interest to make a call somewhere else.

As well as looking at testimonials on the website, look for reviews of the lawyer on Google, Yelp, social media to get the full picture. It always pays to ask people you know too for referrals. Perhaps there is a relative or friend who is a defender, or perhaps someone required a lawyer in the past and will have a rave review or a warning about who they used.

Don’t always trust the lawyer review sites that mention “the 10 best lawyers” in your city. Although these sites are usually found at the top of internet search results. You can be sure that many of these are charging the lawyers fees for “premium positioning”- not unlike the Yellow pages phone book. The biggest ad doesn’t mean it’s the best law firm for your defense!