Why should I hire an Attorney?
An attorney is your spokesperson. An attorney is able to talk to the Judge and the prosecutor about you, oftentimes in the Judge’s chambers (office). This allows for informal conversation about either changing the charges or, in some cases, completely dismissing the charges. However, without a lawyer you are not able to have these conversations.
The Judge wants you to have a Lawyer.
By appearing in Court with an attorney, the Judge knows that you have a trained legal representative helping you. A Judge’s job is to be the umpire and not help one side or the other. Because the People of the State of Illinois has a lawyer (the State’s Attorney), the Judge wants you to have one also.
You will receive a MUCH better result with a good, experienced Attorney.
All lawyers are not the same. In fact, most attorneys do not do a very good job. After 23 years, I have only seen a few good attorneys that truly know what they are doing. While most attorneys simply want to close the case without regard for what happens to the client, I am far more concerned with the end result rather than how many times I need to appear in court or how much work needs to be done to win.
Should I hire an Attorney that knows the Judge, or plays golf with the Judge?
NO!!! Any lawyer that tell you he knows the judge is either a liar or is very unethical. Assuming the lawyer actually knows the judge– so what? Is the judge going to throw the case out because he knows your lawyer? Will every case this person goes in front of the judge with get thrown out? It is more likely than not that the lawyer does not know the judge. Moreover, the lawyer is trying to get you to sign up and knows that his own record of winning is not enough. It is too common for an attorney to claim they know the judge. If this happens, DO NOT HIRE THIS UNETHICAL LAWYER.
A good lawyer will never tell you he is friends with, or plays golf with, or has lunch with the judge. I have more information about this HERE.