Criminal Defense Attorney Los Angeles

Even the most law-abiding people living in a major city like Los Angeles sometimes will have to hire a California criminal defense attorney. In order to ensure that your case has an outcome that is favorable for you, you want the best legal representation available, which can be difficult in a city with so many criminal defense attorneys like Los Angeles. By doing some research and following these tips, you can find a Los Angeles defense lawyer who will best represent you.

You will first want to do some internet research to find a list of three or four prospective attorneys. Searching for “criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles” will yield a large number of results, so look at the law firm’s website to make sure they specialize in the area of law that pertains to your case. You probably wouldn’t want a lawyer who usually represents Santa Monica business fraud clients to help you get out of a speeding ticket in Pasadena. Find out what else you can based on the website, including if they have a location which will be easy for you to get to, if they offer free consultations, and what their fee schedule would be like. Check and make sure that the lawyer is registered with the California Bar Association.

Look up online newspaper archives in the Los Angeles Times or Orange County Register. Have any criminal defense attorneys in Los Angeles successfully defended similar cases to yours? If so, you may want to take the next step and schedule a consultation or ask some questions over the phone. You will particularly want to find out if this attorney takes on many cases like yours, and what the outcomes have been in the past. If you can, ask for professional references who can tell you honestly how this attorney handles cases. If you know anyone who has had a case similar to yours, you can ask them how satisfied they were with their criminal legal counsel, or if you know any attorneys, you can ask them for recommendations as well.

Since many California criminal cases are settled by plea bargains, make sure your prospective defense lawyer is well-known in Los Angeles. The better the relationship this attorney has with the prosecution, the better the chance of getting a favorable plea. If your case is going to be tried at the state or federal level, you will want to know if this attorney appears often not only in Los Angeles County courts, but also in these higher courts.

Having to deal with a criminal charge is one of the most stressful experiences anyone can have, but finding the right Los Angeles criminal defense attorney can help reduce this stress and put legal worries behind you.