There may be.  The Constitution guarantees the right to “reasonable safety” while in custody,[1] and individuals who are older or who have pre-existing health conditions are not safe inside a prison during the pandemic.  Cramped and unsanitary conditions in prisons cause the virus to spread quickly through the population, and access to health care is limited. 

For people awaiting trial, the pandemic is good cause for a judge to grant or reduce bond, and vulnerable people who find themselves in custody should have their attorneys seek immediate release on bail...

Do not wait until you are arrested or charged with a crime to seek legal counsel.  If you have any reason to believe that you are under government investigation, or that you may be investigated in the future, you should immediately contact legal counsel to protect and advise you.  Like a doctor, a lawyer’s ability to help you is directly tied to how early they are involved.  You would not wait to see a doctor until a health issue becomes life-threatening, and similarly, you should not wait until you are charged with a crime to seek counsel.

Tell the police you do not want to answer any questions until you speak to a lawyer.  If they try to trick, bait, or confuse you into answering questions, calmly and politely tell them you want to speak with a lawyer.  Then call a criminal defense attorney or ask your friends or family to do so.  Do not discuss the case with cellmates (who can inform on you to help their own case), and do not discuss your case on a jail phone (they are all recorded).  Just keep quiet until you can talk to a lawyer that is looking out for your interests.

Depending on the circumstances, you may be able to secure your immediate release from custody without going to court by promising to appear in court and/or posting bond.  A bond is a deposit (typically either cash or a recorded interest in property) that is held by the court during your case and returned to you if you attend all of your court appearances and comply with the conditions of your release.  A bail bondsman can help with the bond process and will ‘post’ (i.e. deposit) the full amount of the bond with the court, typically for a fee of around 10% of the amount of the bond.  In more serious cases, only a judge can release you from custody and you need a lawyer to convince that judge to let you out.  Your lawyer should visit you in advance of your court hearing to understand your background, the basic facts of the case, and get information for friends and family who can attend court to support your request for release.  If you invoke your right to counsel and hire the right lawyer, you can secure a prompt release from jail and, perhaps, never go back inside. 

Hiring a lawyer has several benefits.  First, it will prevent the government from interviewing you, which in turn prevents you from making damaging statements that cannot be unsaid.  Second, your attorney is the only person who can listen to your story – all of it – without the risk of being subpoenaed to testify against you.  Making a full and honest disclosure of the facts to your lawyer allows the lawyer to understand the precise risks you are facing and how to avoid them.  Third, a lawyer will prevent you from being charged with obstruction of justice or other criminal offenses related to a cover-up.  A skilled attorney can help you to keep bad facts away from investigators without breaking the law, or to investigate your case and bring advantageous information to the government’s attention.  It is far easier to prevent charges from being filed in the first place than it is to have criminal charges dismissed, so you should not wait to call a lawyer if you are or may be under investigation.

Fees for criminal cases vary widely depending on the client, lawyer, and case. Abraham Lincoln once said that “time and advice are a lawyer’s stock in trade,” and most attorneys will charge their clients through an hourly fee.  Criminal defense attorneys sometimes offer “flat” fees that cover all or a portion of a case for a set fee, regardless of hours worked.  Either way, fees generally range from a few thousand dollars for a simple misdemeanor case to five-figure amounts in felony cases and six-figure fees in particularly serious or complex cases that require a great deal of work.  Trials are especially time-intensive and thus expensive, as are many federal criminal cases. 

Do not simply hire the lawyer with the lowest price and assume that you are getting good value.  How much is a year of your freedom worth to you and to your family?  Lawyers, like doctors, are an unwise place to try to cut costs.  That said, the most expensive lawyer is generally the one with the highest overhead costs, not the best trial skills.  Try to find the right lawyer for your case, and understand that the fee is an investment in your future.   

The most important quality in a lawyer is good judgment.  Judgment is a critical tool for evaluating risk, thinking strategically, and dispensing advice.  There should be a sound reason behind every act the lawyer takes: avoid attorneys who seem to act impulsively, promise you a specific outcome, or otherwise display poor judgment or unreliability. Ultimately, your lawyer will help you make some of the most difficult and important decisions in your life: make sure you have confidence that they will steer you in the right direction.

A lawyer’s most important skill is the ability to listen.  Only by listening can lawyers learn their clients’ stories, uncover critical evidence, and effectively cross-examine a witness at trial.  Your lawyer should be interested in your story – not just your money – and their advice should take into account both the facts and circumstances of your case and also the broader context of your life in which it unfolds.  This is called “client-centered advocacy,” defending clients instead of just cases, and is a hallmark of an effective lawyer.

Beyond these two criteria, you should select a lawyer that you feel comfortable working with and who has substantial experience in your area of need.  If you are facing a criminal case or investigation, hire a lawyer who specializes in criminal defense, not a civil litigator who takes a few criminal cases.  Federal and state criminal cases and procedures are very different, so if you have a federal case make sure that the lawyer regularly defends federal criminal matters.  You do not want a state-court lawyer using your case as a chance to ‘learn the ropes’ in federal court. The stakes are much too high.  If you are not a U.S. citizen, either hire a criminal defense attorney who thoroughly understands U.S. immigration law (like us), or be prepared to hire an additional immigration attorney to advise the criminal attorney on how to handle the case to prevent deportation.