Prepare Your Defense - Criminal Defense Attorney

Ten Recommended Questions Before Hiring a Trial Lawyer for a Tough Case:

  1. Have you tried a case in the field my case is in?
  2. How did you do?
  3. Have you spoken to 100 jury panels?
  4. Do you have references?
  5. Have you won any published appellate cases in my area?
  6. How do I find them?
  7. What will it cost me to hire you?
  8. Do you have time to spend on my case? Do you limit the number of cases you take?
  9. What have you written about the practice of law? How can I find it?
  10. What are your personal beliefs about my legal situation?

Better yet… do the research yourself – before contacting any lawyer.


Ten Questions To Ask Your Legal Malpractice Lawyer:

  1. Do you believe in this?
  2. Have you even tried a suit against a lawyer?
  3. Did you win it? (Give me a name or ten. I don’t know you.)
  4. Do you know the lawyer I want to sue? Will that affect your actions?
  5. Have you ever gotten a crooked lawyer indicted? Did my lawyer commit a crime?
  6. What do you charge? Does the fee change if we go to trial? If we appeal? Can I hire you without money up front?
  7. How many cases do you take at a time? Will my calls be returned? How fast?
  8. If I’m broke – my lawyer ruined me – can you finance the case?
  9. What have you written on the subject of Legal Malpractice and how can I get a copy?
  10. Will my action stop the lawyer from hurting others?

Ten Tougher Questions To Ask Your Tax Lawyer:

  1. Have you ever won a criminal tax trial?
  2. Have you ever won a criminal tax appeal?
  3. Have you ever won a civil tax trial?
  4. Have you ever won a civil tax appeal?
  5. How many cases do you take at a time?
  6. How often do you return phone calls?
  7. How many IRS lawyers have you gotten disbarred?
  8. How many Billion Dollar refund cases have you won?
  9. How many years did it take before:
    1. you tried 25 cases?
    2. you tried 100 cases?
  10. Where can I find articles and books you have written?  Anything written about you?

The Tough Answers:

Crazy, but many criminal tax law specialists, even some who lecture and write articles, have never won not guilty verdicts on all counts charged in front of a jury. This means no jail time. A single tax felony or even misdemeanor won, means the lawyer is better than many. Ten means better than most. If the lawyer can’t give you the name of a single criminal tax client who was found not guilty in his trial, you will either be his first, or you won’t be.

These cases are very tough. So on top of some face to face judge and jury experience, success reversing bad decisions on appeal can be a good insurance policy.

Since criminal tax cases have a little to do with returns, knowing if your lawyer has ever handled the civil side is a must. Questions about tax court proceedings and tax court appeals often come up in criminal trials.

Some excellent lawyers don’t have time to handle your case because they take too many cases. A general policy about returning calls is a good thing to know. Remember though, a trial lawyer should be working on the case in trial. Every trial lawyer has periods of time when you can’t reach him. Would you want your lawyer to leave your courtroom to return someone else’s call?

Getting IRS lawyers suspended? This is a trick question. It almost never happens. (Less than one every ten years.)  Even a great lawyer will usually have to answer “Never.” If the lawyer says he has – check the media. There should be some newspaper clippings.

Large Refund cases? Again see media clippings. This firm has been lucky in both areas. Every good lawyer has a few stories of unusual wins. So if seven and eight weren’t trick questions, they would be simply about accomplishing things that are hard to accomplish.

A lawyer who has tried fewer than twenty-five cases is not an experienced trial lawyer. Every experienced lawyer had to try his first case though.

Every lawyer who has been around a while has written something, a book, an article, a letter to the editor, or an appellate brief. Reading it will tell you something about the lawyer.

Most trial lawyers are hired for the most significant events of your life. Most people do no research about the lawyer other than read their web sites. Never hire a lawyer based soley on their web site. Check their record. What if there is no record? That's not a good sign if you are looking for experience.

A good lawyer for one person might not be a good lawyer for another person. Research the lawyer before you meet him.

A lawyer’s staff, or the lawyer himself, should not mind answering your questions. If you can’t get answers – go somewhere else.