Disclaimer: This article is in response to questions frequently asked of Mr. Cobb and is an unedited dictation transcript. Just like talk to text on your smartphone, there may be misspelled words or sentence fragments.

When you have a quarter of a century defending people in criminal cases, you have a reservoir of experience that never leaves you at the mercy of someone’s crackpot theory of the day. So, it is with great amusement mixed with head shaking sadness that I share with you something I learned recently about Internet searches for criminal defense lawyers.

When someone is looking for a place to get something to eat or drink that is on their pre-existing route of travel, it makes sense to do a search that ends with the phrase “near me“. Unfortunately, this now affects how people search for Florida criminal defense attorneys: Many people are searching for a defense lawyer just like they are searching for a restaurant.

Worse, consumers are relying on social media ratings that have no bearing whatsoever on a particular lawyer or law firm’s skill, experience or abilities. It’s one thing to search for “Brazilian restaurant near me“ and then to look at the social media reviews in order to determine if customers have had an enjoyable dining experience. It’s quite another to search for a Florida criminal defense lawyer in the same manner.

One Florida marketing company that specializes in marketing for lawyers put it rather bluntly in one of their advertisements: “Cases don’t go to the best lawyers. Cases go to the best marketers.“

Yikes!

When you put the “near me“ search with social media reviews, it is highly unlikely that most people will find the best lawyer or legal team to suit their criminal defense needs. Instead, they will find themselves hiring the best marketed firm, not the best criminal defense for firm.

Let’s discuss how this affects your search for a Florida criminal defense lawyer in reverse order.

First, social media reviews are worthless when determining which lawyer to hire for multiple reasons. The people writing the review may be a bot or person engaging in “black hat“ negative search engine optimization and intentionally trying to damage that particular lawyer or law firm‘s reputation in order to help a competitor. Or just to create strife.

Even if the review writer is an actual client of the law firm, there is no way to know the real story. It is impossible to determine the facts because the Florida bar has issued an ethics opinion which severely handicaps a criminal defense lawyer’s ability to respond. The only thing a defense lawyer can say when they have received an unfairly negative review, is that they disagree.

Thus, a former client can trash their lawyer and the defense attorney cannot even respond unless the review constitutes libel, and then they can sue. Which will only guarantee that every member of the former client’s family and their friends will follow up with.…You guessed it, more negative reviews.

Frankly, if I am looking for a surgeon to do open-heart surgery, I am deeply interested in the opinions of specialists within the field of cardiology and don’t give a rat’s ass about some anonymous person’s “experience”. Florida has had a specialization protocol and program for lawyers in multiple fields for several decades. When I need to call upon the expertise of another lawyer, I asked a specialist within that field instead of random strangers online.

Next, it really doesn’t matter if your Florida criminal defense attorney is “near“ your location. What really matters is whether they know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it with the highest degree of effectiveness. Some random stranger or even your best friend’s opinion really doesn’t matter compared to the opinion of people who are in the know. Criminal law specialist are in the best position to determine who the best of the best Florida criminal defense lawyers are.

No one wants to find themselves under investigation and no one ever wants to be arrested. But if you were someone you love needs to find a local Florida criminal defense attorney, the number of miles between your house and their office isn’t important. The number of miles under their belt in the quart room, so to speak, is what really matters.

Disclaimer: This article is in response to questions frequently asked of Mr. Cobb and is an unedited dictation transcript. Just like talk to text on your smartphone, there may be misspelled words or sentence fragments.

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