Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

The best thing you can do is just ask the lawyer directly. A good lawyer will not take offense to the question. If you get a defensive or vague reply then you have reason to be concerned.

You can also look the lawyer up on the California State Bar web site - www(DOT)Calbar(DOT)org, look on the right sidebar for a link to look up lawyers, then type in the name of your lawyer. This site will tell you what law school the lawyer graduated from, how long they have been practicing, and if they have been subjected to any disciplinary action. It will not give you trial stats or number of dismissals, etc.

Also, when considering the trial stats, keep in mind that, unlike private lawyers, public defenders do not choose their clients and are often forced to go to trial on cases that do not have very good odds. Private lawyers choose which cases they take and can create financial incentives for their clients to avoid trial. It costs much more to go to trial; some can�t afford a trial so they take the best deal their private lawyer can get. Also, beware of private lawyers who claim a high win rate - get details. How many of his cases went to trial over his career? in the past year? If you try 10 cases every 10 years (1 per year) with a 90% win rate, that�s not as compelling as someone who consistently tries 10 or more cases per year with an 80% win rate. In the first example, only one out of 10 clients was convicted but how many of his other clients took a deal for something they didn't do? Moreover, how is it that in 10 years this lawyer doesn't have more than 1 client per year who would benefit from a trial? In the second example the lawyer won 40 out of 50 cases; a record that shows she's not afraid to go to trial and that the vast majority of times she wins. .

Which lawyer is likely to do a better job? To get the better deals? The one who avoids trial or the one who is ready to try cases and can deliver year after year?

If your case is going to go to trial, you will need a lawyer who is comfortable in trial and who has the ability to win. There are many great trial lawyers in the public defender office.

Good luck.

You don't choose a public defender; they are appointed.

In counties where there is a central public defender office, the court records wouldn't show which attorney from the public defender office represented individual clients. In some smaller areas like Butte County, where I live, there isn't a centralized public defender office. A group of attorneys have a contract with the county to provide defense services, and you could conceivably call up the cases they handle on the court's website.

However, there is a lot more to an attorney than the cases they win. Some lawyers try lots of difficult cases, so their win rate is lower.