If you end up in trouble with the police and are charged with an offence, and you live in Victoria, then it would be smart for you to contact one of the many talented legal aid lawyers. This kind of legal expert will help you understand your rights and obligations when dealing with the police, help you understand you options for defence, and facilitate the negotiation of any plea deals (should you go down that road).
The following will examine some of the reasons you need to hire one of the many talented legal aid lawyers when you are arrested and charged with an offence the police.
You can’t adequately defend yourself
Having a defence solicitor is absolutely essential if you want to achieve the best possible result, whatever that looks like. Trying to defend yourself (even though you have the right to) is actively discouraged, and the court system will even provide you with a free solicitor (via legal aid) if you can’t afford to hire any of the legal aid lawyers in Melbourne and surrounding areas.
If you have no training as a defence solicitor (it takes many years of tertiary education and practical experience in a law firm) then you pretty much have no chance of getting the outcome you want. The field of legal defence is highly complicated and required a huge amount of time and dedication to study and become skilled at.
Because the law is so complex, we rely on legal aid lawyers to interpret it for us and present a case that either proves innocence or diminishes guilt. The goal is to either have the charges dropped completely (acquittal) or to have whatever charges there are lessened so that the punishment is fair.
They will act as your support through a difficult time
Facing police scrutiny is naturally very confronting and scary for most people, so having legal aid lawyers there with them is a reassuring thing. Many people are afraid of saying things to the police that may incriminate themselves, and a defence solicitor can help these people know what their rights are.
Importantly, the solicitor will be your ally during this difficult time and help guide you through the difficult processes that lay ahead of you, such as preparing you to appear in court. It is good to have a criminal lawyer in Melbourne who has lots of courtroom experience as they will be best equipped to prepare you for your day in court.
They can help you avoid a record
One of the most important roles that legal aid lawyers in Melbourne play is that they are able to help people who have committed their first offence get away without a criminal record being recorded. This is important because having this record can impact your ability to find a job, adopt children, travel, and a variety of other things.
Being found guilty of an offence but not having it recorded is known as a section 10. Section 10 rulings exist as a means of giving people who have made a one time mistake a chance to avoid being caught up in the justice system and end up falling into a cycle of offending and reoffending.
Hopefully the above shows you why hiring legal aid lawyers is so important when you are charged with an offence.
