No matter what you have or have not done, if you are facing any criminal or, to be more precisely, domestic assault charge the best first step to make is to get a consultation from any professional criminal defence or domestic assault lawyer. Even if the lawyer you are consulting will not provide you with court representation, a consultation will still be useful because only professional criminal defence lawyer understands so can explain you the nature of any charges, defences available, or what kind of plea bargains you are likely to be offered.

If you came to the point that you need to hire a criminal defense lawyer because of domestic assault charges you should clearly understand that your lawyer has to know about all important pretrial issues to perform appropriate motions. This is essential because exactly these first steps might significantly improve your situation as a defendant.

Cost

Based on the statistics in Toronto, the cost for the service of any criminal defense lawyer varies a lot. The significant difference occurs because of the nature of charges which are or will be filed against the defendant. As a rule most domestic assault lawyers in Toronto will have a bigger retainer if your case is complex as compared to a simple case. Sometimes, though, even a minor charge can cost you the earth if your lawyer expects the case to proceed extensively.

Moreover, the lawyer’s fee also depends on the city and province you live in. In cases connected to domestic assault issues it is not unusual to pay a retainer of a couple of thousand dollars. Also if you sign a retainer agreement and it has any additional payments in it then be ready to pay extra if your case will go to trial.

Search for a Criminal Defense Lawyer

Sometimes you need to break your head over the search of a good domestic assault lawyer in Toronto. To hire a great professional in this field here are some things to pay attention to before signing a contract:

Referrals – The easiest way is to ask for referrals. As a rule, it is hard to find people from your family or close friends who had any issues connected to domestic assault or criminal defence lawyers. But if you work with any other kind of lawyer you can always ask him or her for any references. Usually this is the best consultation about the people in the criminal defence market that you can ever get. You can also apply for help at public defender’s offices.

Courtroom Observation – A very good idea is to see a criminal defence lawyer “in action” if you sit at public sessions which try domestic assault cases (you can check which you may attend at any court in Toronto). Here you can find one’s performance impressive, and after the trial ask this particular defence lawyer to provide you with his or her contact and afterwards contact this person about the possibility of representing you in your case.

Professional Organizations – Each province and big city in Canada has special organizations of criminal defense and domestic assault lawyers (doubtless they exist in Toronto). Some of such organizations can offer you referral services or even online directories. These means you can use to find a professional defense lawyer in your area.