Using Three Keys to Victory to Help Select the Right Attorney for Your Restraining Order
There's nothing worse that paying good money to a bad attorney.
Quite often, you wind up losing your case and you are still out all of the money you paid.
You could have lost on your own, for free! It can also be a waste of money to get multiple attorneys to handle the different aspects of your case.
Besides wasting money, you could be giving up important rights if your attorney cannot handle them properly when they arise.
While there are a number of things to look for when choosing the right attorney, I have focused on three of the most important keys to victory.
Please be advised that this article is specific to New Jersey which has one of the toughest set of Domestic Violence laws.
For example, final restraining orders (FRO) in New Jersey do no expire, unlike other states.
Thus, the word final really means final.
An FRO will only be dismissed upon application by either party.
If no one files a motion, it will stay in place forever.
1.
Get one attorney for everything A New Jersey Domestic Violence Restraining Order is not really family-law issue and its not really a criminal-defense issue.
Instead, its a 50/50 hybrid of the two.
Thus, in my opinion, if you only have an attorney that handles one of those areas of the law, you only have half an attorney.
Quite often, restraining orders in New Jersey are accompanied by both a criminal complaint as well as a divorce complaint or some other family court action.
The restraining order case will almost always be heard first.
The right moves in that case will likely impact the other cases.
I have seen criminal defense attorneys explain to the court that they are really not in a position to deal with the custody, visitation and child support issues because the client has another attorney for those issues and the attorney handling the restraining order case is clueless when it comes to those issues.
Sometimes, the family court issues can be an integral part of settling or winning the case but if your attorney cannot address these issues, you are seriously prejudicing all of your case.
I have also seen plenty of family-law attorneys handle restraining order cases that clearly knew next to nothing about criminal defense.
Because of moves I made at the restraining order hearing, I was able to get very serious assault charges dismissed.
These charges could have landed my client in prison for many years but the testimony elicited during the hearing boxed the prosecutor in where they had no choice but to dismiss the charges.
It may be extremely difficult for an attorney that does not practice criminal defense to come up with that strategy.
Besides results, getting one attorney for everything could also save you a ton of money.
It is easier to talk to one person about everything and to have one office manage everything than it is to have a number of chefs in the kitchen.
2.
Does your attorney have a good track record? No one can win every restraining order hearing, but some attorneys can win a lot of them.
Sometimes I handle domestic violence cases every single week.
As a result, I have a "war manual" that I bring with me to every hearing.
In it, I have some of the strongest cases on the subject that I can pick and choose to use at different points in the hearing.
Some of these cases are unpublished which means that are rather obscure.
However, they can still be used to get great results and make a good record in the event that an appeal needs to be filed.
3.
Does your attorney have a plan? This is where many attorneys fall down.
I have seen many attorneys walk their clients into court without any plan, without any focus and without preparing the client.
The results often bear this out.
Your attorney should have a strategy for how you will win, what evidence you will use, what arguments he/she will make, etc.
More importantly, your attorney should walk you through the hearing so that nothing is a surprise.
If you can find an attorney that will use these three keys to victory, your chances of winning your New Jersey restraining order case may dramatically improve.
Quite often, you wind up losing your case and you are still out all of the money you paid.
You could have lost on your own, for free! It can also be a waste of money to get multiple attorneys to handle the different aspects of your case.
Besides wasting money, you could be giving up important rights if your attorney cannot handle them properly when they arise.
While there are a number of things to look for when choosing the right attorney, I have focused on three of the most important keys to victory.
Please be advised that this article is specific to New Jersey which has one of the toughest set of Domestic Violence laws.
For example, final restraining orders (FRO) in New Jersey do no expire, unlike other states.
Thus, the word final really means final.
An FRO will only be dismissed upon application by either party.
If no one files a motion, it will stay in place forever.
1.
Get one attorney for everything A New Jersey Domestic Violence Restraining Order is not really family-law issue and its not really a criminal-defense issue.
Instead, its a 50/50 hybrid of the two.
Thus, in my opinion, if you only have an attorney that handles one of those areas of the law, you only have half an attorney.
Quite often, restraining orders in New Jersey are accompanied by both a criminal complaint as well as a divorce complaint or some other family court action.
The restraining order case will almost always be heard first.
The right moves in that case will likely impact the other cases.
I have seen criminal defense attorneys explain to the court that they are really not in a position to deal with the custody, visitation and child support issues because the client has another attorney for those issues and the attorney handling the restraining order case is clueless when it comes to those issues.
Sometimes, the family court issues can be an integral part of settling or winning the case but if your attorney cannot address these issues, you are seriously prejudicing all of your case.
I have also seen plenty of family-law attorneys handle restraining order cases that clearly knew next to nothing about criminal defense.
Because of moves I made at the restraining order hearing, I was able to get very serious assault charges dismissed.
These charges could have landed my client in prison for many years but the testimony elicited during the hearing boxed the prosecutor in where they had no choice but to dismiss the charges.
It may be extremely difficult for an attorney that does not practice criminal defense to come up with that strategy.
Besides results, getting one attorney for everything could also save you a ton of money.
It is easier to talk to one person about everything and to have one office manage everything than it is to have a number of chefs in the kitchen.
2.
Does your attorney have a good track record? No one can win every restraining order hearing, but some attorneys can win a lot of them.
Sometimes I handle domestic violence cases every single week.
As a result, I have a "war manual" that I bring with me to every hearing.
In it, I have some of the strongest cases on the subject that I can pick and choose to use at different points in the hearing.
Some of these cases are unpublished which means that are rather obscure.
However, they can still be used to get great results and make a good record in the event that an appeal needs to be filed.
3.
Does your attorney have a plan? This is where many attorneys fall down.
I have seen many attorneys walk their clients into court without any plan, without any focus and without preparing the client.
The results often bear this out.
Your attorney should have a strategy for how you will win, what evidence you will use, what arguments he/she will make, etc.
More importantly, your attorney should walk you through the hearing so that nothing is a surprise.
If you can find an attorney that will use these three keys to victory, your chances of winning your New Jersey restraining order case may dramatically improve.
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