Warzones and court are places to win, not zones to lounge

Warzones and court are places of opportunity to win. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that the Virginia criminal defense lawyer and defendant who do not flinch nor recoil at the proverbial bows, bullets, feces and blood flying all over the courtroom, are better prepared for victory. Virginia criminal defendants should have themselves in this mindset from the very beginning. Working backwards, make sure you arrive timely to park your car, to arrive at the courthouse, and to meet with your Virginia criminal lawyer. Dress sensibly, respectfully and comfortably. For my Virginia criminal and DUI defense clients, that means to wear comfortable shoes and no excess of jewelry. This is not a night in the club but a morning and afternoon of combat. Throughout your awaiting your court date, strengthen your physical health, mind and spirit. Follow good sleeping habits, and take care of your mental health, spiritual practice, exercise and eating right. When you awake on your court date feeling strong in all those respects, you will thank yourself for having followed the foregoing steps. Do not counteract all your hard work preparing for court with your lawyer by bringing along toxic or low vibrating people. You have no obligation to come to court with a relative just because they are a relative, but only should consider inviting them to court if they will provide you moral and spiritual support that you will benefit from, or if they are an essential witness in your case.

Warzones and courts are places to be welcomed for opportunity for victory, and not to be feared for risks of harm

You as a Virginia criminal or DUI defendant did not choose to come to court. You have been forced into this arena, and you have no choice but to unleash the giant within you, and to find the right lawyer who will do the same with himself or herself. Russell Crowe as the gladiator magnificently exemplified this, not only being personally victorious even against an opponent swinging a mace at the heads of him and his teammates, but also being victorious as a team. Even though a murderous psycho, Robert DeNiro’s Max Cady in Cape Fear reminds us that we have opportunity to success even in the bleakest-seeming of situations, where instead of wallowing in self pity in his prison cell over his years-long sentence and the sexual assualts he has suffered in prison, he follows a self-disciplined physical workout regime in his cell right up until the last few minutes before his release. It is little wonder that I learned a year after he passed away, that one of my earliest great legal mentors, Irv Margulies, delighted in fighting in warzones during World War II, with real ammunition being shot and people dying and being wounded around him as a result.

When I choose my Virginia criminal lawyer solely based on price, am I sending my attorney to battle insufficiently armed?

Successful Virginia criminal defense  in courthouse warzones is not inexpensive. Criminal defendants who qualify for public defender and other court appointed lawyers avoid financial burden to hire a lawyer. The remaining Virginia criminal defendants are either going to pay a lawyer or will proceed to their trial date without an attorney (which they should never do.) I totally understand when a potential criminal defense client is so short of financial resources that s/he asks me how I can reduce my services in order to charge a lower fee. I respond that I either enter the courthouse battlefield fully armed, or not at all. If it is important to you, find out what resources and time your potential Virginia criminal lawyer will devote to you and your defense, including the staff or contracting people that will back up the lawyer.

Does your potential Virginia criminal lawyer thrive in otherwise uncomfortable courtrooms and situations?

I thrive in courthouse warzones, because I have naturally been a fighter throughout my life, ready to go to any battlefield that is necessary for fighting for justice. Criminal defense and trial work is not a cakewalk. Judges — even some of the best — can make decisions and issue orders that seem to confound the law, logic and justice. Jurors can be particularly mercurial. Prosecutors and police often can be vicious at worst and uncaring at best. Court rules and the law can be very demanding on a lawyer. Some lawyers  thrive with such challenges, and others do not. For me, fighting unders such circumsntances is totally worth it, because I know that there is no other path to obtaining justice for criminal defendants, and because I always get a rush when I obtain victory.

Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz is your warrior for justice against Virginia DUI, felony and misdemeanor prosecutions. Call 703-383-1100 for your free in-person initial confidential consultation with Jon Katz about your court-pending case.