A defense lawyer is hired for the task of defending a client who has been charged with a crime that could put them in jail for a very long time. A criminal attorney in Orange County, for example, might be hired to defend a person who has been accused of murder or another crime and whereby a judge or police officer deems that there is enough possible evidence to suggest guilt. A criminal defense attorney has to oversee the process of the case, from gathering evidence to support their clients’ story to refuting evidence submitted by the prosecution, as well as dealing with the trial, the sentencing, any appeals, the investigation and any charges. Many a time the defense lawyer will have their client released without charge—as seen in many a TV show—and the client will have nothing further to do with the police or the legal system. However, if there is enough evidence to suggest that there is a possibility of guilt, the prosecution can ask a judge to refuse bail or make the bail high enough that the accused remains in custody until a trial.
Reviewing and Determination
Not only a judge does plenty reviewing of a case, but the defense attorney will also. Their job is to comb through anything that is to be used in the trial that could either incriminate or put into jeopardy their client’s future or the verdict. Many a time a lawyer will win a case based simply on something that could be construed as Constitutionally unfair. If they can prove, or at the very least ‘suggest’ that the evidence was illegally obtained or was due to illegal conduct by a government agency or spokesperson they can have charges withdrawn and dropped.
It can take anything up to seven years—and more—to become a fully-fledged criminal lawyer. This begins with graduate school and law school. After the process of general graduation comes the choice of which area of law that person wants to enter for their career purposes. All lawyers will train in generally law to start with but they can opt to choose one area in which to practice or a series of areas. Most lawyers will practice many types of law but those will all be linked in some way.
