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Board Certified - Criminal Law - Texas Board of Legal Specialization

Criminal Law Blog

April 16, 2006

Why Bother Hiring A Lawyer?  For A Dinky Case Like Mine?  Lawyers Are Too Expensive.

A stockbroker came to talk to me and her situation was not good.  She faced a felony charge for possession of methamphetamine, a DWI, and three Driving While License Suspended cases, all in different counties. 

She said, “I am already paying for lawyers on most of my cases.  I have degrees from two Ivy League colleges.  This case looks simple.”

She asked, “why should I spend more money?  Why shouldn’t I just represent myself?  I already know I don’t want to fight the charges.”

I said, “since one of your lawyers is from a county just north of here, you might consider asking him to represent you here.  Chances are, he will charge you less than I would because he doesn’t need to get up to speed on your situation.”

But her question deserved a better answer than “talk to someone else.” So I gave her my best answer on people who represent themselves. 

I said, “if we were only talking about a Class C Misdemeanor, and little else, I would just tell you how to handle this yourself.  Often times, with a Class C, you really don’t need a lawyer.

“And often, all you really need to deal with a Class C Misdemeanor is common sense and a little advice. 

“But you aren’t dealing with a Class C Misdemeanor only.

“If I were coming to you for advice on investments, I suppose I could ask a similar question.  Why should I hire a stock broker when I could trade stocks on my own?

“You might answer that you spend well over 60 hours per week studying stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, along with current economic indicators.  That means you know a heck of a lot more than I do about what is a wise investment for someone in my situation with my risk tolerance.

“Likewise, you might answer that both your undergraduate degree and your Masters in Business Administration focused on personal investments.

“You might also point out that for every buyer of a particular stock who thinks that the stock is rising in value, there is also a seller of that same stock who thinks it is on the way down.  Knowing how to make a trade in stocks is one thing; knowing when to make it and why is another thing.

“But the analogy between trading stocks and being a trial lawyer only goes so far.

“Being a good trial lawyer means knowing whether to fight, when to fight, how to fight, and that you have been a few “fights,” or trials, before.  If you represent yourself, the prosecutor will definitely know you haven’t been in this kind of fight before. 

“You feel that you don’t want to fight the charges and that is fine.  But even if you don’t feel like fighting the charge, there still could be a legitimate basis for getting a dismissal of the charge. 

“If you represent yourself, it will mean the prosecutor will make an educated guess that you don’t know you have a good basis to fight them.

“The only other thing I can tell you is that I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve never seen anyone walk away from handling criminal charges on his own who was happy about it.  In fact, I’ve never seen anyone who represented himself walk away free.”

I hope she went back to her lawyer who was handling one of her cases just north of Travis County.  She didn’t need to spend more money with me.  But she needed a lawyer. 

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