A qualified forgery lawyer should have a good reputation. This means that the attorney should be willing to provide references and should not have any disciplinary actions recorded with his state bar association. In addition, a qualified forgery lawyer should have a good acquittal-to-conviction ratio and have a proven record of getting less than average jail time for his clients who are found guilty. The attorney also should not only specialize in forgery cases, but should have experience in trying the cases in the jurisdiction where the crime allegedly occurred.
It is important for a person who is accused of forgery to not only get a lawyer who knows the law, but to get a lawyer who knows forgery law inside and out. A lawyer who specializes in civil cases or another aspect of law may not be experienced in forgery law, and therefore could put the one's case in jeopardy. Experience in forgery law should be a critical factor in hiring an attorney.
In addition, a qualified forgery lawyer should not only have experience in practicing forgery law, but in practicing law in the jurisdiction where the crime was supposedly committed. This means that the forgery lawyer will know the personalities of the court personnel involved. In addition, the lawyer will be more likely to know what arguments will and will not appeal to a particular judge.
Reputable lawyers should be willing to provide references. The person who is interviewing the lawyer should contact these references, knowing that the references are likely to have good things to say about the attorney. If an attorney is not willing to provide references, the attorney may be new, which means he is inexperienced, or it may mean he is disreputable.
In addition to checking the references that the forgery lawyer provides, the accused should check at the state bar association to see if any disciplinary actions have been taken against the attorney. State bar associations not only issue licenses to lawyers who practice in their states, but they investigate complaints against attorney members. If the forgery lawyer has been disciplined by the bar, the attorney may not be the best choice.
When looking for a forgery lawyer, one should inquire about his success rate, which is a measure of the acquittals versus convictions in cases he's handled. In addition, regardless of whether the clients were found guilty in court or the cases was plea bargained, the amount of time that clients have been incarcerated would ideally be less than the average time spent for a similar case. This reflects not only on the forgery lawyer's legal expertise and experience, it reflects on the lawyer's knowledge of court personnel in the local jurisdiction.