Why Being a Private Criminal Lawyer is Great

I must admit, I’m stealing this post from Grey Tesh, who is a great Palm Beach criminal lawyer (at least from his blog he seems to be). I’ve saved this post in my email for months (it’s from September 2009) and decided it was finally time to let it out.

I’m going to post it in it’s entirety because I think it says everything there is to say about being a criminal defense attorney. It’s also really short and is a top 10 list, which makes summarizing hard. So, without further adieu, enjoy.

Top 10 Great Things About Being a Private Criminal Defense Lawyer

10. You get to go to court – a lot – and argue motions on your feet.

9. Cross examination.

8. Very little paperwork. I saw a civil lawyer recently with three boxes of crap for an 8:45.

7. Defending the unpopular little guy. Everybody is against you. Even when I was little, I always rooted for the bad guy to get away in the movies.

6. Flat, non-refundable, up-front fees and turning down cases (assholes) I don’t want.

5. You get to try cases in front of juries.

4. The stories. You can’t make this crap up.

3. Thinking about how you are going to answer the “How do you defend those people” question this time. I have a few answers for that, depending on the questioner.

2. Working for yourself. I work my ass off, but when I want to go play golf, I do. Piss off if you don’t like it.

1. And the number one great thing about being a criminal defense lawyer: It’s fun.

If you ever wondered why I do what I do, it’s all right there.

So, the next time you see me at a party and you want to know why I’m a criminal lawyer, I’ll probably throw out a few of these answers. If you ask me how I can defend guilty people, I’ll tell you. And you might not like the answer, at least until you find yourself in trouble and need a criminal attorney to help.