cumberland county military criminal lawyers

When you need the best legal defense, a military criminal defense lawyer is the way to go. An experienced lawyer improves the odds that you get a favorable outcome in your case, and that can have a huge impact on your future.

Your other options if you forgo hiring a private lawyer are letting the court appoint a lawyer for you or being your own lawyer. Although neither of these work as well, representing yourself is definitely the more reckless decision. Courts will always advise you against doing it, and there’s a good reason for that. You may not have the legal experience necessary to represent yourself. Even if you do, a neutral third party will usually be able to defend you better than you could on your own.

The obvious benefit of your court-appointed lawyer is that you won’t pay a dime for the service. Upfront cost alone shouldn’t be the only factor in choosing a lawyer, especially when the consequences can be so dire if you lose. Here’s why you’re better off getting your own private lawyer.

The Benefits of a Private Military Criminal Lawyer

Private lawyers benefit you in several ways, and each of these adds up to give you a better chance if you need to appear in front of a court martial.

You Choose Your Lawyer

When you go with a court-appointed lawyer, you have hardly any say in who represents you. The court assigns whoever is free, and even if you don’t like your lawyer, you’ll be stuck with him. It’s very rare for a court to change the lawyer it appoints you upon your request, and your only option if you want someone else will be to hire them yourself. You also may not be able to do that if it’s too close to the start of your case.

With a private lawyer, you’re able to check out backgrounds and experience levels to hire the right one. This gives you a much greater say in your legal defense.

Your Lawyer Can Start Working for You Before the Case

There are already many defendants in need of court-appointed lawyers, and that means those lawyers tend to have quite a bit on their plates already. Until you’ve actually gotten charged with a crime, you won’t get a court-appointed lawyer assigned to your case.

This makes sense, but it also puts you at a disadvantage from the beginning, because your lawyer won’t be preparing your defense until the very beginning of your case. If you hired a lawyer on your own, you could have them checking out your case and getting a potential defense ready before charges are even filed, ensuring they don’t miss out on valuable prep time.

Private Lawyers Often Have More Experience

A lawyer’s experience plays a large role in getting the best result for their client. As a lawyer gains experience, they get better at investigating cases, finding the right defense strategy and contesting the case during the trial. Although a court-appointed lawyer can be good at all those parts of the job, private lawyers tend to do them better because they have more experience.

Lawyers usually start their careers with court-appointed work before moving on to work privately, which means private lawyers will have much more experience on average. Court-appointed lawyers also settle quite a few of their cases, which means they may not have much time contesting cases in court. That could make or break your case.

Knowing What You’re Up Against

If you’ve had charges brought against you or it looks like that will happen sometime soon, the best decision you can make is to get a private military criminal lawyer. The prosecutor will be building a strong case against you before charges are filed and will have plenty of experience. Getting your own lawyer helps you even up the odds.

Being found guilty could have serious consequences that affect you the rest of your life. You could be facing the loss of your job and any military benefits you received. Hire your own lawyer so that you have the best shot of winning your case.