Jury Trial Results

When you or a loved one need a lawyer for any serious criminal matter, you want to know that the one you choose is the best for your case. The choice of your lawyer can have a significant effect on the lives of you and your loved ones. We understand the time and thought that will be going into this decision and fully support your desire to make an informed choice. To that end, there are several ways to determine the quality of the lawyer you are considering to represent you.

Call The Law Office of Kimberly Stover, PLLC at (703) 810-3571 for your Free Case Consultation with our Alexandria Criminal Defense Attorney!

The Pros and Cons of Reviews

Positive reviews can be helpful but they seldom provide enough useful information to help those seeking representation make an informed decision on who they choose to hire.

One thing to keep in mind is that reviews are not always necessarily written by the lawyer’s clients. They can come from friends and family.

Even when the review is written by an actual client who has worked with a specific lawyer, a positive review may be due to a reason that has no relevance to what you are looking for in a lawyer yourself. For example, the glowing review left by a client who had her speeding ticket dismissed in court will not help someone decide whether that same lawyer is experienced with and capable of handling a felonious assault or drug charge.

Case Dismissals/ Reductions of Charges

Another criterion that potential clients often consider is the lawyer’s record of case dismissals or reductions in charges. Again, while this information may be helpful, it does not tell you enough for you to make an informed decision about that lawyer’s capabilities.

Cases get dismissed and charges are reduced for a myriad of reasons, many having nothing to do with the actual performance of the lawyer. Perhaps the complainant did not appear in court or did not want to go forward with the charges. Maybe the charge was reduced or dismissed as part of a standard plea offer that the prosecutor offers in every similarly situated case. A dismissed or reduced case simply does not tell you what the lawyer actually did, if anything, to obtain that result.

The Importance of Jury Trial Results

The single, best criterion to learn the most useful and important information about a criminal defense attorney is the lawyer’s jury trial results.

First, it demonstrates that the lawyer takes cases to trial. Although many cases can be resolved for a client short of a trial, not all cases can be. Unless the prosecutor is offering something better than we expect to obtain at trial, our recommendation to the client will be to go to trial.

Going to trial is the default until we are convinced otherwise.
Even if you know that you don’t want to have a trial, it is important to keep in mind that lawyers who are known to go to trial are more likely to receive better offers from prosecutors than those who are known not to go to trial.

Second, reviewing a lawyer’s jury trial results tells you that the lawyer goes to jury trials and not bench trials. (A bench trial refers to the type of trial that does not involve a jury but is conducted by the judge alone).

Statistically, a client is also more likely to prevail at a jury trial than at a bench trial. Therefore, if we believe that you should go to trial, it is highly likely that we will recommend a jury trial.

Jury trials require more preparation, more effort, and more skill from the lawyers than bench trials. Not only is your lawyer doing more work at a jury trial, but they are also demanding that more work be done by the prosecution.

Third, reviewing a lawyer’s jury trial results tells you what kind of cases the lawyer has handled in the past and whether or not she has been successful with those cases.

For these reasons, we provide our jury verdicts for potential clients to review to determine whether you might want to work with us.