Defense attorneys
Defense attorneys are legal professionals who represent individuals charged with crimes across various court jurisdictions, including local, state, federal, and tribal courts. Unlike public defenders, these attorneys are privately engaged and compensated by their clients. They must be members of the legal bar in their practicing jurisdiction and typically undergo specialized training in criminal law, trial practice, and negotiation during their legal education. Many defense attorneys begin their careers as prosecutors, gaining valuable trial experience before transitioning into private practice.
The primary role of a defense attorney is to advocate for their client with zeal, regardless of personal opinions about the case. They provide crucial guidance to clients during investigations, arrest procedures, and trial preparations, striving to protect their client’s rights and interests. Defense attorneys work to access and analyze evidence, challenge damaging information, and create reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors. While they often negotiate plea bargains—agreements between the defendant and prosecution for a less severe sentence—they ultimately respect their client's decision on whether to accept such offers. In cases of conviction, they may assist in the appeals process, typically transitioning to a different attorney for that phase.
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Defense attorneys
Definition: Attorneys who are engaged to represent criminal defendants and are paid by the clients
Significance: Private attorneys are essential to fair defenses in criminal cases.
Private defense attorneys engage in the representation of persons charged with crimes in local, state, federal, or tribal courts. Unlike public defenders, private defense attorneys are engaged and paid by their clients, rather than by the state.
Criminal defense lawyers must be members of the bar in good standing in the jurisdiction in which they practice. A law student wishing to become a criminal defense lawyer will usually take (in addition to the courses in criminal law generally required in law school) specialized courses preparing them for criminal trial work, including advanced criminal law, trial practice, criminal procedure, and negotiation. Many defense lawyers begin their career as prosecutors in local district attorney offices and go into private practice after receiving some criminal trial experience.
The defense lawyer’s task is to represent the client zealously, regardless of any personal feelings about the defendant or the crime. If the client has not yet been charged, the defense attorney’s job is to advise the client on communicating with the grand jury, to accompany the client to meetings with police and prosecutors, and to advise the client as to evidence. Once the client is arrested, the defense attorney will represent the client at bail hearings and arraignment. The defense attorney will often try to “build a Chinese wall” around the client, denying the police and prosecution access to the client and regulating the prosecution’s access to evidence to the extent possible. The defense attorney is entitled to any information the prosecution has on the crime and defendant prior to trial, and the defense attorney will often use a private investigator to evaluate this information and discover new information. At trial, the criminal defense lawyer will seek to exclude damaging evidence, or at least minimize its impact, and will present evidence to introduce a “reasonable doubt” in the jury’s mind as to guilt. If a defendant is convicted, a criminal defense attorney may participate in filing an appeal, but a different attorney will usually represent the defendant on appeal.
While criminal defense lawyers often take cases to trial, they also spend considerable time negotiating plea bargains for their clients. A plea bargain is an agreement between the prosecutor’s office and the defendant for the latter to plead guilty to a particular charge in exchange for a predetermined sentence. A defense lawyer must be prepared to offer a plea bargain to a prosecutor, evaluate any offer of a plea bargain by the prosecuting attorney, make sure that the client understands any offer, and help the client decide either to take the offer or to go to trial. It is, however, ultimately the client’s responsibility (not the lawyer’s) to decide whether to make or accept a plea-bargain offer.
Bibliography
Clehane, Dianem, and Nancy Grace. Objection! How High-Priced Defense Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System. New York: Hyperion, 2005.
Neubauer, David W. America’s Courts and the Criminal Justice System. 8th ed. Belmont, Calif.: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2005.
Wishman, Seymour. Confessions of a Criminal Lawyer. New York: Penguin, 1982.
Wolfram, Charles. Modern Legal Ethics. St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing, 1986.