What Should I Expect From An Initial Consultation With A Criminal Defence Lawyer?

If you find yourself charged with a criminal offence in Brampton I would highly recommend that you seek the advice and counsel of a criminal defence lawyer.  Usually, a criminal defence lawyer will provide an initial free consultation for 30 to 45 minutes.  While you are not officially a client of the lawyer who is providing the consultation to you, the consultation is confidential.  All communications and consultations are governed by solicitor-client privilege, regardless of whether you retain the lawyer or not.  During the meeting, a criminal defence lawyer will briefly review the disclosure (if you have received it) and talk to you generally about any defences you may have.  The lawyer will also get to know you a bit and obtain basic biographical information from you, such as your date of birth, citizenship status, marital status, education and employment and contact information, to name a few.  The lawyer may ask about your version of the events and talk to you briefly about how s/he could potentially defend you.  Most of the time, the actual strategy and theme of your case evolves during the case and so a defence theory cannot yet be relayed to you or formulated in the initial meeting.  Expect the criminal lawyer to also discuss possible penalties/punishments known as the “sentence” for the criminal offences for which you find yourself charged with.  In reviewing your initial disclosure the criminal lawyer may also be able to spot any constitutional charter arguments that may be obvious to him/her or that may be lingering in the background.  There may be issues that the lawyer may find out from you without disclosure (if you haven’t received it).  For example, were you strip searched for no apparent reason or did the police enter your home without a warrant?   These charter issues may be pivotal to your defence. The length and timing of the matter may also come up, usually posed as a question from the client/accused  – this is generally impossible to answer with accuracy or predictability but general timelines, i.e., “roughly 6 months: or  “roughly a year”  usually are able to be provided by a lawyer fairly early on in the proceeding.   The issue of Legal Fees also should arise in the conversation.   All of these issues are what to expect to talk about generally in an initial consultation with a criminal defence lawyer – they are not, however, a complete list and every lawyer has a unique way of conducting an initial consultation.  If you find yourself charged with a criminal offence and confused about the whole process, contact Avi Baratz for a free initial consultation at 905-789-9007 or email at avi@baratzlaw.com.