Hiring a criminal appeals barrister is quite different from hiring a trial attorney. You need to do more research and vet each candidate before hiring anybody. You don’t necessarily have to hire criminal appeals barristers after the trial. In some cases, people hire them to sit through the trial. That way, they can advise the trial attorneys on the best ways to keep the evidence intact for the appellate process, if necessary. Here are some useful tips to help you choose the best criminal appeals barristers for your case.
Where To Find A Criminal Appeals Barrister
First, you can ask for referrals from friends, relatives or colleagues who have used an appellate attorney previously. Before hiring anybody, you should inquire whether the clients were completely satisfied with the attorneys services. If the response is positive, you can hire the attorney for your case. If you have lawyer friends, you can also ask for a referral to a good appellate attorney.
You can also ask for a referral from your trial attorney. He/she is bound to know an excellent attorney to work on your appellate case. If none of the referrals amount to anything, you can check online for a criminal appeals attorney in your area. Don’t rush into hiring the first name you find without vetting further or checking the attorney’s credentials. Lastly, you can contact the bar association and request the contact details of a few of the best appellate attorneys close to you.
Benefits
Rather than going through the whole process, most people would prefer to work with their trial attorneys. Well, there are advantages and disadvantages to this decision. However, it’s prudent to choose an appellate attorney for your case, especially because of the following benefits.
First, its good to know that appellate cases are very extensive and exhausting. Therefore, it’s more advantageous to go through the whole process with someone who has done it before rather than working with a trial attorney. Appellate attorneys have experience working with appellate courts and that’s the safest bet for your case.
Secondly, after going through an extensive trial with your attorney, it’s quite difficult for him/her to be objective when it comes to the appeal. Even worse, the trial attorney might have exhausted all the possible loopholes making it hard to win the case. Appellate attorneys have experience working with appellate courts and that’s the safest bet for your case. An appellate attorney will bring a completely fresh perspective to the case and might also discover new arguments that might spin the case around.
Lastly, appellate attorneys have to go through all the documents on the trial record in order to defend the case in appellate court. Therefore, they need to be dedicated, patient and ambitious. It’s not easy to go through all those documents without adding more evidence outside of the record. Well, trial attorneys might not have the same level of patience and dedication, especially because they have more cases on their dockets. That’s why you need the services of an appellate attorney.