How hard it is to be a defence lawyer?
Defence lawyers need to be the tough gentlemen, personally to accept and withstand criticism and professionally to prove their stand in the court of law. Even defence lawyers are greeted with great looks of scepticism once they complete their arguments, from the citizens in the jury box and the judge. But it is part of their profile, and they need to bear the brunt of their profession in certain scenarios.
But despite these hardships, it is the duty of the defence lawyer to win the case on behalf of the accused. By the time a criminal case gets wrapped up, the prosecution has transformed the entire picture of their clients in front of the jury. To accomplish such tasks, the defence attorney needs to be of a tough breed. In other words, if you’re in this profession, you need to be thick skinned. This is for the simple reason that they need to force the public to offer a second chance to the defendant, even when the defendant is accused of the vilest of crimes.
Despite all these, defence attorneys are used to defeat while they don’t fail to cherish their occasional acquittal. When we take the example of Orange County, the success rates for the prosecution party is as high as 90th percentile. But defence lawyers only expect the judicial system and the prosecution party to be responsible and allow the defence attorney to do their job, for their representation for the criminal case is quite indispensable.
The experts views on the matter:
Attorneys David Cohn, Kenneth Reed and Kate Corrigan are eminent criminal lawyers in the field of defence law. They have recorded their testimonies for us to understand the lives of defence attorneys:
David Cohns:
He loves his job and can go to any extent to defend his party against the crime. In the case of Laguna Niguel, he directly approached the panel with the words, ‘what does this lawyer have to say now?’. Though these are common terms used by defence parties, he says they are the shields between the defendant and the prosecution. The defendants rely on them completely and expect them to save them from any penalty.
Ken Reed:
He is a Santa Ana based criminal attorney, who has been a defence lawyer for the past 23 years. He lost two capital cases and his clients are now on death row. He says it truly hurts to lose such cases where the verdict means life sentence for the clients.
Kate Corrigan:
She specialises in representing drug smugglers and white collared criminals. She has been a prosecutor for 6 years in Orange County before becoming an attorney. She says she does not check her ethics at the door and takes special precautions to represent her clients well. Her main motto is to help people in the best way possible, for they are already desperate when they contact her.
This article is authored by Veronica King. She is an upcoming lawyer who is known for her intelligent and tactical maneuvers. She hopes that one day she can join the prestigious Indianapolis-based law firm where some of the best legal minds of the world work.