Let’s break this down: If you are arrested or under criminal investigation, you are in real jeopardy of losing your freedom. Depending upon what you are ultimately charged with and whether the charge is in state or federal court, you may face crippling penalties such as incarceration, lifetime record of conviction, restitution, and fines. Owing to your social standing in the community, the resulting publicity, humiliation, and destruction of your interpersonal relationships could have a profound impact on everything from your job to your marriage. Who should you place your trust in to properly stand between you and the carnage the criminal justice system regularly hands out to the guilty as well as the innocent (If DNA has taught us anything, it is that innocent people in American get arrested, charged, tried, convicted, and imprisoned all too frequently).

Top criminal defense attorneys all have one thing in common: Trials, lots of them.
Trials provide attorneys with not only the discipline to master the academic aspects of the law, such as the Rules of Evidence and the Rules of Criminal Procedure, but they also provide lawyers with the reality of learning how to effectively speak to someone. The Shakespeare quoting lawyer could look great on television but will a jury composed of working people understand and appreciate what the attorney is saying? Some attorneys do not know when to stop talking and frequently snatch defeat from the jaws of victory when addressing a judge.

Probably the most critical skill for a lawyer is cross-examination. Trials allow lawyers to perfect a skill that is really an art. A real defense attorney knows that, while a good and effective cross-examination may win a trial, humiliating a witness will lose a trial. That is called experience.

That is a term that experienced and successful trial attorney’s use to attract clients who can afford their services. These types of felony crimes usually involve professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, commercial airplane pilots, successful business people, etc. The white collar crimes are often fraud, tax, real estate and securities offenses. White collar people charged with crimes often turn to “silk stocking” law firms for help, especially when that law firm has provided civil advice for some time. Once these law firms saw that there was a market for white collar criminal clients, they set up their white collar criminal sections. How do they do it? They recruit a former prosecutor, from either state or federal court, and presto: they have a special unit designated for these types of crimes. The problem is their former prosecutor, while the lawyer may have tried hundreds of cases, they only prosecuted them, not defended them. And there’s the problem. They have neither the mentality necessary for defense trial nor the cross-examination skills. Further, once stripped of the mantel of authority they carried while a prosecutor, they have no gravitas as a defense lawyer and the jury finds their presentation boring; fine for a prosecutor, disaster for a defense attorney. Most of the time, the client is unaware of it but they will be pleading guilty, either when their funds run out or their white collar lawyer has run out of continuances.

The best criminal lawyer in Miami handles nothing but criminal defense cases. How many criminal defense attorneys near you can you find that advertise their law practice is restricted to criminal cases only? What does that tell you when you find a trial attorney who does? It means they must be good at what they do because they need not accept any other business other than criminal cases. Further, it means enough clients seek their services to sustain their entire practice on criminal cases. That is why felony defense attorneys are usually lone wolves. People facing the loss of their freedom do not want some associate attorney to show up at court; they want who they hired and they, rightfully, demand that who they hired has the time to devote to their case, exclusively.

In short, whether it is a white collar crime you are charged with or need a DUI lawyer, the best criminal attorney in Miami – or anywhere else – will have considerable trial experience defending only criminal cases.

Even the best criminal defense attorneys represent clients who plead guilty. We are not magicians. Sometimes the evidence is so convincing that failing to point that out does the client a real disservice. But, there is a world of difference between suggesting someone plead guilty because of the evidence and being too busy or preoccupied with other matters to be able to devote sufficient time to develop the defense and try the case. Like a painting, it takes time and thought to develop a successful defense. Defending a fraud case, for example, is rarely successful based upon a denial that the event ever occurred. Rather, especially for the busy business owner/executive/CEO/CFO, the trick is to establish that it happened without the client’s knowledge or knowing participation.

Just like trials, experienced and top criminal defense attorneys develop the art of plea negotiations. Your bulldog lawyer may be a staunch ally if the case goes to trial but his/her take no prisoners attitude may leave him despised by prosecutors and judges. Do you believe plea offers made to him/her will be as good as those made to well respected, professional and experienced criminal trial attorneys who regularly win at trial? You are sadly mistaken if you do.

Take a good look at the criminal trial attorney you are interviewing. How does the lawyer answer your questions? Do they make themselves clear? Do they look you in the eye when speaking to you? What does their office look like? Is their desk cluttered with papers and books? Are they organized? Do they return your calls? Is the attorney well groomed and appropriately dressed? These are hall marks of a professional. You do not want a Ford for such an undertaking as criminal representation. You want a BMW.