By Stephen G. Cobb, Board Certified Criminal Trial Law Specialist

In the beginning…

You or someone you love is being investigated or has been charged with some form of sex crime and you need a skilled criminal defense attorney.

You already know that whether charged as a sexual battery, a sexual assault, a lewd or lascivious molestation, act or battery that the case is serious. The same is just as true for traveling to meet a minor for unlawful sexual purposes or child pornography. Sex crimes attorneys know all of them are serious.

The search for a sex crimes attorney

Google is not your friend. Google is not a search engine, either. Google is an ad server.

The Google Ad Server does not care about you getting the best sex crimes lawyer. The Google Ad Server wants you to click on lots of very expensive ads which cost sex crimes lawyers hundreds of dollars for each click. Worse, instead of real reviews from the people who would know the experts the Google Ad Server deliberately hides this from you. It would be bad for Google’s Ad Server business if actual, certified experts were listed according to actual credentials. So, instead of getting the best in field you get the best marketers.

Which is more important to you, the slickest most expensive ads designed to part you from your money regardless of skill and experience or finding the best sex crimes defense attorney?

How to find the best sex crimes attorney

In Florida, you can find the best sex crimes attorney with a single question: “are you certified by the Florida Bar as a Criminal Trial Law Specialist?” For 28 areas of law in this state, you only need one question: are you a Florida Bar certified specialist? The answer is either “yes” or the long story about why BCS (Board Certified Specialist) status doesn’t matter.

Less than a fraction of 1% of Florida lawyers are specialists in criminal law. You can trust the Google Ad Server, which requires no testing, criminal case trial experience or reviews from opposing trial counsel and from trial judges or the Florida Bar. The Bar requires each of those things and more.

Your sex crimes attorney will not be cheap

Generally speaking, privately retained sex crimes attorneys do not take long, drawn out payment plans. In terms of complexity, sex crimes are one of the most complicated areas of Florida criminal law practice complete with special evidence rules and intense public scrutiny. For this and other reasons, legal fees tend to be higher than the legal fees charged in other areas of criminal law. This is also an area where many more cases go to trial and thus an experienced sex crimes attorney will have lots of jury and bench trial experience. These types of trials take a long time to prepare for court. My last bench trial was a sex crime where the defendant was found not guilty by reason of insanity in under a single minute. However, it took over two years to get the case ready for trial.

If the legal fee your sex crimes attorney charges seems to good to be true, then it probably is: if there is one area of criminal law where discount fees are routinely a problem, it is with sex crimes and murder cases. Bluntly stated, if you cannot afford the fee the best sex crimes lawyers charge, then you should consider whether you qualify for the services of the Office of the Public Defender. Yes, they have cases coming out of their ears because they are kept overloaded intentionally. However, an overworked sex crimes attorney with experience is better than a privately retained one who have no trial experience. Even if your case does not appear headed for trial, the prosecutor will not offer the best deals to those sex crimes attorneys who cannot find their way to jury selection.

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