Prepaid Legal or Lawyer on Retainer?

[MurderDeathKill]

if you represent yourself, you have a fool for a client...


i know it's already been stated, but it should be repeated imo

hehe

 

[supermanlives]

i successfully represented myself once. but i had a paralegal who was becoming a lawyer by my side. the more he told me the more i realized i didnt know aboiut the legal system. i won but i would never do it again

 

[kmk420kali]

i successfully represented myself once. but i had a paralegal who was becoming a lawyer by my side. the more he told me the more i realized i didnt know aboiut the legal system. i won but i would never do it again

And Paralegals are a biggie!! Most Lawyers have a team that helps them in researching the charges, Laws, and case history-- It is simply too difficult for 1 person, especially in MMJ or Cultivation Cases...Laws and Municipal Codes are changing quickly, and many, many gray areas--

 

[The Bulk]

I think its pretty simple!Try to convince the Jury the law is out of touch with reality.Maybe in the old days it might of been hard,but people are coming around to the fact that marijuana is not the evil it is/was proclaimed to be.If the jurors picked up the paper once in a while they would know/see that alcohol is far worse and legal!There is quite a few angles you could go with to try to convince them that its a waste of time and money to arrest harmless marijuana smokers/growers.

 

[teemu shalanie]

Not the place to save a few bux, representing yourself!!!, maybe learn a little plumbing or electrical on your own, but for fucks sake get a lawyer and , leave the defend yourself for dummies on the shelf.......
TS

 

[headiez247]

I predict within the next day our one lone self representation advocate is gonna drop a line similar to:

" if you wanna know how to represent yourself better then any stilly lawyer, just buy my Ebook, only $29.95 and I promise you will win any case "

 

[The Bulk]

Another thing is not alot of people are going to have 5-10 grand on hand IMO.Then what go with a public defender?

 

[Scottish Research]

I've had four attorney's over the years: ONE was competent and professional, another became my attorney and my mentor: the other TWO were complete douche bags, that honestly stole money from me.

You really need to shop around and interview these people, because some will take your retainer and do NADA....

IMO you would be wasting your time with pre-paid legal

 

[medicalgreen]

just consider this.....

If you were not taught in law, in the early colonies, because freedom was so important, you would have probably been shot or run out of town, because if you don't contribute to liberty, you are a part of it's entropy.

If you choose to hire lawyers instead of learning law yourself, you probably deserve whatever sentence you get, however harsh it may be.

I know i'm being a hardass on some of you, but you have no backbone, and you don't stand for freedom or liberty, or lift a finger to defend it, so to some, you are worthless.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

I would never advise anyone to represent themselves. I would advise people to learn the law, rules of court, filings of motions, writs etc.

If you don't do that, minimally, you may not deserve freedom. Because freedom is not something that is given freely, it's taken by those who have the will to take and keep it.

yea of course its good knowledge to learn the basic run around first, but knowing the difference between no contest and guilthy versus defending yourself in a felony drug case by yourself is a different story...

DA/prosecutors see someone representing themselves is like a cop seeing a nice box of fresh donuts or a dog seeing a nice juicy steak.....something that can add to their conviction record they wont go easy on you guarantee that. and all this bullshit about pleading to the jury about the insanity of drug laws are you kidding me??? get a good lawyer and you wont need to plead shit to a jury...

the key difference is the defense lawyers intricate knowledge of the system, judges, DAs...they can see and exploit certain things and navigate through the evidence, etc....and experience from past cases and rulings...what if he just managed to get a case dropped for some guy growing 500 plants, and you walk in there to defend yourself with a 100 plant charge but have no knowledge of the prior case...one example...and the DA knows this and he sure as hell aint gonna tell you!! they dont care about you they care about their conviction records!! all these people want to move up the ladder its their career...


i just got out of a case with no lawyer by talking to the DA directly but it was such a smalltime case i could tell he just wanted to get it over with....i highly doubt if i was facing some felony drug charge he would have been down to shake my hand and talk to me 1v1...thats what your lawyer is for, and hopefully he knows the DA personally maybe their kids play soccer together...

 

[headiez247]

Another thing is not alot of people are going to have 5-10 grand on hand IMO.Then what go with a public defender?

By default, if you are doing something that is either illegal or a gray area legally, having that 5-10k is priority number 1. Otherwise it isn't worth the risk.

If you are somehow stuck in a situation where you don't have the money and need legal help, you really gotta try to borrow the money from family and friends. If that doesn't work then ya you gotta get a PD I guess.

I've had four attorney's over the years: ONE was competent and professional, another became my attorney and my mentor: the other TWO were complete douche bags, that honestly stole money from me.

You really need to shop around and interview these people, because some will take your retainer and do NADA....

You clearly didn't shop around then and do enough research if you got burned by lawyers 50% of the time, and now I can see why you hate them so much.

j
If you choose to hire lawyers instead of learning law yourself, you probably deserve whatever sentence you get, however harsh it may be.

No person can adequately learn law between the time they are arrested and the time they need that knowledge in court.

I went to a 4 year school with a 19% acceptance rate and I can promise you I would fail at learning law. It's just not in my blood.

But as many people have said, its not just about knowing the academics, related case history, procedural stuff etc, its about networking, which is what the world is based on. Baller lawyers not only know the DA, but they play golf with the judges on the weekend.

 

[Scottish Research]

If you find a great attorney, you are also paying them for who they know... This is really a big deal.

"those that don't get it, don't get that they don't get it." or something like that.

 

[krunchbubble]

my attorney said she wont do a prepaid retainer......

she said because she may be in trial in a federal case somewhere and she would not be able to drop everything and come represent me....

what if she is on her only vacation of the year on the other side of the world and i cant get in touch with her?

what if she is already representing someone and will be a conflict of interest?

she said several others but i cant remember them all, made sense to me...

 

[The Bulk]

Baller lawyers not only know the DA, but they play golf with the judges on the weekend.

Could see where this would/could come in handy on a plea bargain,but in front of a jury it would mean nothing.

 

[headiez247]

Could see where this would/could come in handy on a plea bargain,but in front of a jury it would mean nothing.

The point was if you know the DA/Judge well enough there won't be a jury to have to deal with.

If there is a jury then it's your baller lawyer's job to make you come across in a very particular way.

Lone advocate's position is that by you representing yourself, the jury will think "oh well we respect that hes trying to defend himself so we are on his side" which is utter bullshit. If I was on a jury and dude was defending himself on a serious case I'd immediately think he's an idiot.

 

[headiez247]

my attorney said she wont do a prepaid retainer......

she said because she may be in trial in a federal case somewhere and she would not be able to drop everything and come represent me....

what if she is on her only vacation of the year on the other side of the world and i cant get in touch with her?

what if she is already representing someone and will be a conflict of interest?

she said several others but i cant remember them all, made sense to me...

This is actually really common, especially with high level, busy lawyers. Usually in that case they will suggest you keep the money with a trusted friend so if your assets are frozen you still wont have any problem with your friend delivering the money to the lawyer asap.

The ultimate baller is having house counsel but that usually only goes down with millionaires.

 

[Mr Eckted]

just consider this.....

If you were not taught in law, in the early colonies, because freedom was so important, you would have probably been shot or run out of town, because if you don't contribute to liberty, you are a part of it's entropy.

If you choose to hire lawyers instead of learning law yourself, you probably deserve whatever sentence you get, however harsh it may be.

I know i'm being a hardass on some of you, but you have no backbone, and you don't stand for freedom or liberty, or lift a finger to defend it, so to some, you are worthless.

You can pull that freedom and liberty card if you want, but the bottom line is lawyers are better at litigation than you are, unless you're a lawyer too.

Who do you want flying your airplane? A pilot, or some redneck who thinks he knows it all?

That's right. The Pilot.

Hiring on competent legal counsel isn't giving up liberty, it's just a good idea. When someone comes and tries to occupy my home, or my family and friend's homes, I'll be the first one to stand up and fight. But a spade is a spade, and I know enough to know when I don't know.

 

[Dankgravy]

Also worth pointing out that even the best lawyers would never represent themselves in court..

 

[medicalgreen]

Also worth pointing out that even the best lawyers would never represent themselves in court..

which proves they already know how incompetent they are.

 

[walt cunningham]

judges really like to see you putting money back into the system. learned that a long time ago
lawyer on retainer is the way to go.
also, if shit hits the fan, it may be better to have your lawyer payed off in case they freeze assets.
the people that represent themselves are generally morons who think they are smart(judges HATE that)