Do You Know Your Attorney’s Criminal Background?

When you hire an attorney to represent you in any matter in a court of law, you want to know you’ve hired someone with integrity, honesty, and a strong foundation of ethics to ensure that you are being represented by someone you can trust. 

That’s why it’s so important to do a background check on any attorney you decide to hire, for any reason. Searching for client feedback online is also an essential component of a thorough hiring process but even that can’t reveal every fact about the individual with whom you plan to trust your case. Whether it’s a criminal trial or a custody hearing in family court, you want to know who it is you have by your side. 

For instance, if you hire someone like Katie Lewis Family Attorney, an attorney practicing family law in Dallas, Texas, you had better do your due diligence. Otherwise, you’re going to entrust your divorce proceeding, your custody hearing, or a legal name change to someone who has a DUI conviction on her criminal record. This isn’t something she discloses to her clients of her own volition, and, in fact, many of her previous clients have objected to this lack of transparency from someone with whom they expect to be forthcoming and honest.

Poor Choices

Hiring an attorney who has been arrested and convicted of drinking and driving could be a tough situation for any client who just wants someone to represent their interests in a family law dispute. When an attorney like Katie Lewis doesn’t feel it’s important to let her clients know about her own checkered past, that can be a red flag and it may signal more difficulty to come. A DUI conviction demonstrates poor judgement on the part of the individual who decides to drink in excess and then get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, putting other motorists and pedestrians at risk. 

Hiring Katie Lewis Family Attorney or any attorney with a DUI conviction or another major offense can put the expected outcome of your case at risk, as the reputation of your attorney does play a role in how the court decides in any dispute. The opposing counsel across the aisle may even decide to single out your attorney’s criminal background as a reason not to believe anything she says, and hiring this attorney could also paint you in a negative light as well.

DUI convictions are a serious offense as drunk drivers are responsible for the deaths of nearly 14,000 people a year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). If the judge holds a dim view of drunk drivers or worse, he or she has experienced the carnage of a drunk driver’s actions first-hand, you may be at a great disadvantage when the judge is ready to give his or her decision. 

Take Caution

Filing for divorce can have a significant effect on your financial standing as you may be ordered to pay large sums of money in alimony or child support. You may lose custody of a child or lose visitation rights. The repercussions of hiring the wrong attorney can weigh heavily on you and other members of your family for decades to come. Always do a thorough background check on your attorney. It could ultimately help you win your case.