TIP: Shop around. Get quotes from a few law firms. You may be able to save yourself thousands of dollars. BUT: Don't choose a law firm just because they have the lowest rates. A bad lawyer can sometimes be worse than none at all.
Ask what may be expected as a retainer. If you like a particular criminal lawyer feel free to haggle over fees. A lawyer likes to charge by the hour, but often rates can be negotiated. There are too many criminal lawyers with too few clients today. You can get a better deal.
Be sure and cover contingencies with him. What will it cost if the unexpected occurs? You want to know before you get a huge bill. Try and get a written estimate of fees, all disbursements and extras. Lawyers don't usually get asked this. Be sure that the estimate includes an hourly rate, a schedule of chargeable items and an upper limit.
Lawyers often charge for things like photocopies and phone calls. They aren't charities. They're in business to make a profit, and only the simple-minded would begrudge them. It cost a lot to get them where they are, so they charge for it.
A lot is at stake here. If you want to break a man, tie him up in lawsuits. Interview a number of lawyers before you make a final decision. Consider trying to get a few recommendations. Unless you're skint, free legal aid isn't the way to go. You get the law you pay for, unfortunately.
If you are ever in need of one, make his job easier by saying nothing to the police. Even if they find you stooped over the body with a gun in your hand and blood on your jacket, keep silent. You are not obliged to incriminate yourself.
Police love confessions. It makes their job so much easier.They'll try to beat you down, or trip you up. Keep your mouth shut. Some cases, especially the less serious ones, never get to court due to lack of evidence, or they get thrown out for procedural reasons.
If you confess, the game is over.
Your best way to find a criminal lawyer quickly on the internet is to use a search engine, like Google, and add 'stop' words to the query. Your query would look like this: criminal lawyer -UK -biz -"incompetent shyster", where 'UK' and 'biz' are words, and ''incompetent shyster" is a phrase, from type of sites you don't want in the search results.
