When You Should Fire Your Lawyer. Your Freedom and Livelihood Are The Real Issues.

I frequently receive calls from the distressed clients of other attorneys asking me whether they should fire their lawyers, because no investigation has been performed on the case and the client wants to go to trial and not take any deals. When is it a good time to fire your lawyers, and how do you know if you should?Criminal law is like any other profession. There are good lawyers and bad lawyers just as there are good doctors and bad doctors. You do not know he value of freedom until you visit thee prisons. Right from my school days and most especially my youth service days, it was more than a passion to join other colleagues of mine to visit the prisons to take up cases we could afford to take. The truth is that, majority of inmates are still awaiting trial because of the lackadaisical attitude of their attorneys. 

With lawyers, however, it can be harder to know if you are getting a good service. The hallmark of good service is preparation and successful execution of the trial strategy. Sitting beside some lawyers, i could see the fear to stand up and speak out for their client before the chief judge during prison visit. Or could it be that they enjoy the fee paid to them while one is incarcerated? I mean what could make a lawyer not defend his client before a chief judge who has come to decongest the prison? I was peeved to see how inmates were asked of their lawyers and their lawyers where no where to be found. 

Those around only complicated issues and could not even secure a simple bail for their clients. And one wonders if it was purposely to deprive the accused of their rights.

First, ask yourself what stage of the case you are in. Generally, it is not a good idea to fire your lawyer on the day of trial. Judges do not like this behavior and see it as evasive. Only in the most serious circumstances where lawyers have committed aggregious conduct do judges allow substitution of attorney on the day of trial. It is far better to fire your lawyer at an earlier stage of the case. If your lawyer has not made clear his theory of the defense, his trial strategy, and the steps he has taken to prepare by your preliminary hearing, then you should fire him or her before your hearing takes place.

In other words, you should be apprised of all the aforementioned data at a very early stage of your case. If you lawyer is too busy to inform you about strategy, preparation plan, and legal issues involved in your case, fire him or her as soon as possible. You may lose money by having to hire a new lawyer; however, in serious cases money should not be the issue. Your freedom and livelihood are the real issues.

There is a difference between going to church and repenting versus being hammered by the government for criminal wrongdoing.  When you have the weight of the government trying to take away your liberty and your reputation, don’t look back on your choices and ask yourself, “what would have been the outcome, if I had hired him?