Table of Contents
Can you defend a client you know is guilty?
Can my lawyer represent me if he knows I’m guilty? Yes. Defense attorneys are ethically bound to zealously represent all clients, the guilty as well as the innocent.
Do lawyers fight for you?
Obtaining Legal Assistance Whether you believe you are guilty or not, you are entitled to a fair trial and an attorney who will represent your interests. Your lawyer is there to fight for you. You and your attorney can decide how much information to share about the facts underlying the case.
What happens when a lawyer finds out their client is guilty?
The job of a lawyer is to represent client in the court. Every person untill proven guilty by the court is innocent. Therefore, even if lawyer gets to know that his client has committed the crime, still client is innocent unless declared otherwise by court.
Does a lawyer have to defend a guilty client?
In NSW, that body is called the Law Society of New South Wales. The ethical standards do not prevent criminal lawyers from representing a client they know is guilty, but the lawyer will not be able to lie or knowingly mislead the court on their client’s behalf.
What happens when a lawyer defends a guilty client?
Rather the lawyer’s trial tactics and arguments focus on the government’s failure to prove all the elements of the crime. Defendant a guilty client may mean committing professional suicide. Criminal defense attorneys may vigorously defend guilty clients, but as a couple of examples make clear, they risk committing professional suicide by doing so.
Why do lawyers not ask you if you committed a crime?
A defendant may have done the act in question, but the client may have a valid defense that would exonerate him. For these reasons, among others, defense lawyers often do not ask their clients if they committed the crime. Instead, the lawyer uses the facts to put on the best defense possible and leaves the question of guilt to the judge or jury.
Are defense lawyers required to continue to defend their client?
Are they required to continue to defend their client (and would that mean they may be forced to commit perjury?). Perjury is when you lie while testifying under oath. The defendant’s lawyer will not be called to testify. At no point will the defense lawyer be asked if his client committed the crime, so he is not forced to lie.
How does a lawyer decide what to do?
First, lawyers understand and believe the facts their clients relay to them. Second, after hearing the facts and identifying the legal issues a client is facing, a lawyer must find a previously decided opinion (called case law or precedent) with an outcome that favors their client’s position.