I grew up wanting to be an attorney. I went to an unaccredited law school. I could sit for the bar, but my school was not ABA accredited. This meant I would not get offers from the big law firms. But I wanted to be a criminal attorney so I thought this would not matter.

But going to a small unaccredited law school also meant the government would not be quick to offer me a position either. But I only wanted to graduate so I could take the bar exam. I figures I could think later about finding a lawyer job.

Government work is the best place to get criminal law experience. Really, it is the only place. Most if not all criminal law lawyers in private practice worked for the district attorney office or the public defender to begin. But most if not all of those jobs go to graduates or ABA schools. But I was able to get an interview with the county I lived in. There was a state wide hiring freeze because of budget shortages. But it was lifted for one position in the county public defenders office. I got 88 out of 100 in the interview. I knew this was not high enough with all the competition for one job opening.

A week later, I received a letter from the state saying that the hiring freeze was reinstated. They did not even fill the one position before putting the freeze back on. I decided to take a continuing legal education course on drunken driving defense. The course was a three day program and after the course I thought there was really nothing to it and it should be simple enough.

After completing the course I ran an ad in the local shopper. My phone rang all day long. I went to court with my first client. The courtroom was in the city I grew up in across the street from the college I graduated from.

This was my client’s first offense so he was looking at any jail time. And his alcohol level at the time of his arrest was above the legal limit. There was nothing for me to contest. But I was there basically to hold his hand during the process. But I did want to go through the steps I learned in my class. I approached the deputy district attorney at the opposite side of the courtroom and waited patiently while she chatted with the courtroom bailiff.

I went over to the deputy district attorney to discuss the charge and the penalty she would agree to as I learned in class. She was chatting with the female bailiff. I patiently waited for her to finish. The bailiff looked me up and down, turned her nose up and walked away. When I asked the deputy district attorney about the charge and penalty she curtly said I would find out from the judge. She said this without looking up from her files.

I was however treated politely by the female judge. I think she must have come up from the ranks of the public defenders office and knew what it was like dealing with bailiffs and deputy district attorneys. My client received the minimum penalty for his offense. His drivers license was suspended for one year. But I was able to get him to drive legally to and from and at work since his job required him to drive. But I decided that would be my only criminal case. As a criminal attorney one has to learn to be treated like the client he represents. That might be fine for some lawyers. But not this one.

Having a well experienced criminal lawyer Fort Lauderdale is greatly beneficial to the case. A Fort Lauderdale criminal attorney will use their expertise to fight for your welfare, guaranteeing the best possible outcomes.