If you have a criminal case filed against you, you should aim to be hiring defence lawyers Perth in Western Australia who are experienced. Here is what you should know when new lawyers enter the field.
In the law firms
In the mid-size and large law firms, lawyers in their first few years of practice are still developing their expertise. They work very hard to meet their quota of the billable hours because every activity they do counts as billable. There is not a consensus on the difference between non-billable and billable hours. Possible metric: in case someone other than a lawyer could properly and easily perform the task, any time the lawyer spends on that particular task is billable.
And any personal break taken for more than a few minutes should not be billable. This doesn’t mean that lawyers keep track of and deduct the breaks.
New defence lawyers Perth WA in large firms may spend a lot of time in document review for a single big case. Document review can be a dull job. These lawyers spend their time going through digital files, huge amounts of paperwork, and microfilm, looking for information that can help in answering interrogatories or for documents that come within requests for production.
New lawyers may also spend most of their time on legal research. They summarize their research in legal memoranda. They may draft more important documents as they gain seniority. At a trial, they may act as the second chair, lugging files to and from the court, handing exhibits to the lawyer actually trying the case and taking notes.
Our advice
If you really want to win a criminal case, then we advise you to look for experienced defence lawyers Perth in Western Australia. When hiring a lawyer via a large law firm, you should ensure that the lawyer assigned to your case is competitive and experienced.