Vital Reasons to Retain a Skilled White Collar Criminal Defense Lawyer

Offenses like fraud, insider trading, and money laundering often come with the heftiest of sentences. People who are convicted of them often face years in federal prison. They also face paying tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. 

When you have been charged with one of these types of offenses, you need to act swiftly for your own best interests. You can start by hiring a white-collar criminal defense lawyer to represent you.

Proving Your Innocence

If you are innocent of the charges against you, you need to convince the judge or jury of this fact. However, if you were to argue for yourself, you may have no idea what to say to get them to agree with you. You might even say the wrong thing and convince them that you are guilty.

Rather than risk your chances in court, you can hire a white-collar criminal defense lawyer to argue for you. He or she will know what evidence to use and what words to say to show the court that you are innocent. He or she may be able to convince a judge or jury to vote in your favor and avoid convicting you of a crime that you did not convict.

Arguing Down Charges

If the evidence points to your guilt, you can retain a white-collar criminal defense lawyer to argue down the charges against you. He or she may convince the prosecution to drop the charges down from a felony to a misdemeanor. Your attorney may convince the prosecutor to drop the charges entirely, particularly if you have an otherwise clean criminal record.

Your white-collar criminal defense lawyer can be instrumental in helping you avoid going to federal prison for years and having to pay expensive civil fines. You may be able to serve out a lighter sentence and complete probation or community service to pay restitution to the community.

Finally, an experienced white-collar criminal defense lawyer may be able to get your record expunged. After you complete your sentence, you can hire this attorney to ask the court to expunge the convictions from your record so you can get a fresh start in life.

A white-collar criminal defense lawyer can provide critical services. He or she can argue for you in court and prove your innocence. Your attorney can also argue down charges and expunge your record.

For more information about white-collar criminal defense lawers, contact a local law firm near you.