Choosing a lawyer to appeal your conviction or sentence is hard. The yellow pages are full of lawyers. How do you know which one to pick? You could ask a friend who they used on their criminal appeal, but how many of us have friends who had a good lawyer on their criminal appeal? How about a lawyer on television or a billboard? Those are things that can be bought too. Is a lawyer better because they pay more on advertising? Not necessarily so you better be cautious.
So what do you do about hiring a lawyer for your appeal? If you don't have a trusted friend who knows that a certain criminal appeals lawyer will do a good job on the appeal, you will have to do your best with what you have - your common sense. Maybe you should ask the following questions.
1. Does the lawyer limit their practice to certain areas of the law or is the lawyer trying to wear too many hats (and trying to keep up on developments in too many areas)? I have limited my practice to criminal defense appeals since 2003.
2. Is there any way for you to tell that the lawyer is current in the area of criminal law or are you just hoping they are? I keep up on the Federal and Ohio cases every week and I blog about the cases I think you would find most interesting.
3. Who is going to work on your appeal? Will it be the lawyer you meet or will it be staff hired by this person you will never see? Even worse, will the lawyer you meet contract the work out to another lawyer or someone else? I have often heard how a family wanted to hire someone they perceived to be some "Perry Mason" type figure to handle the criminal defense at trial only to find that all they saw during the trial process were Associates hired by this "top dog." On appeal it would be even easier for this Perry Mason figure to have all kinds of law students, paralegals, other lawyers down on their luck or whatever do the work you hired "Perry Mason" to do. How would you ever know? I do all the work -- from start to finish -- on every criminal defense appeal I handle.
4. Watch out for promises. You know when you will find out you hired the wrong lawyer? Probably when it is too late. I have heard stories of how lawyers have promised the moon to potential clients. The defendant and his family are surprised at the end when it all falls flat and the lawyer goes on to the next case, but then what? The lawyer already has his money. "But you promised you would take it all the way to the Supreme Court" or "You promised we would win" or "You promised he would be home for the holidays." Yeah, right. Watch out for the lawyer making promises that sound too good to be true (even though I know you want to believe them at the time). And how do you think one lawyer will get the case instead of another? Is it who makes you more or better promises? Take any promises you do not get in writing with a grain of salt. I will not make any promises and I will be honest about your prospects.
5. Is the lawyer you had at trial pushing a certain lawyer on you for appeal? This may be okay, but it could also be a bad thing. On appeal I try to find ways in which the trial lawyer failed to provide the effective assistance of counsel. Many trial lawyers do not enjoy being accused of being ineffective. If a trial lawyer is pushing a certain lawyer onto you to do the appeal, ask yourself why they are doing this. Are they buddies from law school? Associates? Golf partners? You may be better off choosing a lawyer who only has your interest in mind when examining the record for ineffective assistance of trial counsel.
6. Does the lawyer have a winning track record to show they know how to win an appeal or can't they show you cases they have won on appeal? How many criminal defense appeals have they done? Make sure you get facts from the lawyer and not just claims or promises. Many of my wins are listed on this blog (click on MY WINS ON APPEAL in the upper right corner).
7. What research system will the lawyer use to do the research for your appeal? Will it be a "free" or low-cost system or a premium research system like Westlaw? I have used Westlaw since 2003 and I have access to all the law I would need to handle your appeal.
8. What kind of support network does the lawyer have? As a long-time member of the Ohio Association Of Criminal Defense Lawyers, I have access to the Listserv which "joins over 500 members from around the state" who bounce ideas off each other and keep up on current developments in the field of criminal defense in Ohio. I am also a long-time member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers which also has a listserv.
Choosing the right professional is always a challenge and choosing a lawyer for your appeal might be the hardest of all. But choose wisely because you may not know how good (or bad) your choice was until it is too late. By the way, if you went with someone else and regret it, check out the information I posted under PRACTICE AREAS about applications to reopen appeals.
Good luck!
