What Is It Important To Retain a Local Criminal Defense Attorney for a Los Angeles Domestic Violence Case?

This whole concept of local when it comes to domestic violence cases has to do with an attorney who knows the courthouse where your case is pending.  In my opinion, the reason this is so important is because most courthouses handle a lot of domestic violence cases.

When it comes to crimes that are charged in Los Angeles County, and probably across California, next to DUI's, domestic violence would probably be the number two charged crime.  In other words, all sorts of people are getting these crimes.  You don't have to be a criminal to get into an argument with your significant other and violence to erupt and to get arrested.

So, there's so many of these cases that go through the courthouses.  Lawyers who are local to a particular courthouse are going to have a pretty good feel for what you're facing when you have a domestic violence charge in a particular courthouse with a particular judge, being dealt with by a particular prosecutors.  So, in my opinion, that's why it's so important to get a local lawyer.

Knowing Tendencies of the Prosecutor and Judge

You're also going to be able to avoid what I characterize by landmines when it comes to the defense of spousal abuse or domestic violence cases in the various courts throughout Los Angeles County.

What I mean by this, there are some prosecutors that are extremely harsh when it comes to a domestic violence case, and obviously, you want to avoid those prosecutors because you're going to get hit with a much harsher punishment than somebody who's in front of another prosecutor.

That's my job as a domestic violence attorney to steer a case clear of those prosecutors who are going to be too harsh and unreasonable to my particular client.  I've also seen in some courthouses that some of the judges are not reasonable when it comes to these domestic violence cases.

Obviously, you don't want to put yourself in a position where you violate your probation in front of a particular judge and that judge has the opportunity to hammer you with a very harsh sentence.  So, having a local attorney, having somebody who knows the courthouse is important.

So, when people come and sit down and meet with me, obviously they're very worried and concerned about their domestic violence case and what's going to happen to them.  The good thing is I've been practicing in Los Angeles County for so long and so many years.

I've worked with the D.A's office, I've worked with a Superior Court Judge and I've been a criminal defense attorney for over twenty-five years now.  I have a pretty good feel for the judges, the prosecutors and just the whole system that you're going to be up against.

So, when you come in I'm able to talk about that.  So, you're able to ask me questions — where's my case going to go?  What do you think about the prosecutors there?  What am I looking at?  I can give you a pretty good idea.

Los Angeles Domestic Violence Lawyer

When you've handled hundreds of cases in a particular courthouse, you deal with the judge all the time, you start to see tendencies in these officials who are going to be dealing with your case and that's important.  So, definitely hire a local lawyer.

If you've got a case in Los Angeles County, there's probably twenty-five courts now.  They've consolidated a lot of the courts.  Where there used to be forty; there's now about twenty-five.  Having practiced so many years, I've appeared in all of them and I have a pretty good feel for the right way to deal with a domestic violence case, what you're looking at, what things can be done to help you get out of the system as fast as possible.