You may not ever envision yourself being arrested. However, if you have been suspected of breaking the law, you could find yourself placed in handcuffs and hauled off to jail. During the actual detainment process, your brain may tell you to do everything the arresting officer asks of you. Your instincts, however, might prevent you from following through on this advice. When you have been detained and charged with resisting arrest NJ residents like you are given the opportunity to defend yourself before a judge or jury. Your defense may best be presented by a qualified criminal defense lawyer.

Before you hire a lawyer, it can be helpful for you to know for what qualifications to look in potential counsel. To start, you want a lawyer who specializes in criminal defense. You do not want to hire an attorney who practices bankruptcy or personal injury law, for example. You need someone who is intimately familiar with the criminal defense codes in your state.

Likewise, you probably want an attorney who has handled cases similar or identical to yours in the past. You may prefer not to take your chances on a novice lawyer who is brand new to the courtroom. You similarly want to avoid hiring someone who has lost more case than he or she has won in court if you want to beat the charges against you.

Once you find out this information, you can then move on to how much the attorney will cost you. By law, you have to be provided with an attorney if you cannot afford one. This right is guaranteed by the Constitution and is part of your Miranda rights that will be read to you when you are arrested. The county or state will pay for your lawyer if you cannot afford to hire one for yourself.

When you can afford to hire one, you do not need one appointed to you by the court. Instead, you can interview attorneys in your area and ask them how much they charge for defending clients like you. You might do well to ask about specific costs including courier services and copying of documents needed to file for your case at the courthouse.

Most law firms will provide clients with an itemized list of expenses prior to a contract signing. This list can come in useful when you are deciding what services you want to include in the case. You also can refer to it when you are deciding whether or not to liquidate assets or apply for finance with which to fund your defense.

You typically can get all of this information in a free consultation prior to retaining a lawyer. Most lawyers will allow clients to consult with them at no cost for at least one hour. During that meeting, you can ask the most important questions about your case and what will be involved should you decide to put the attorney on retainer.

You may not ever plan to be arrested for resisting arrest. However, if or when you are, you may want to retain an attorney quickly. You could find a qualified one to take your case by using these criteria in the vetting process.