Should I Hire A Lawyer Experienced In Federal Defense? Chris Combs and Andrew Russek from the leading federal criminal defense firm Combs Waterkotte discuss the importance of hiring a lawyer with resources and experience fighting federal criminal cases.
Interview Transcript
Scott Michael Dunn: Should someone hire an attorney that has experience in federal defense? Is that important?
Chris Combs: On these podcasts, we always talk about the importance of having a lawyer. With federal court, you know, I’m repeating myself here, but putting an attorney between yourself and the federal government could not be any more important.
And the sooner you do that, the better off you’re gonna be.
Scott Michael Dunn: Oh, for sure.
Chris Combs: And I’ll let Andrew kind of talk to the importance of having an attorney and the complexities of these federal cases. And while you have to have someone who does this all the time.
Andrew Russek: Yeah, it’s the major leagues, again, we’ve talked about it: There are resources. You need to hire attorneys. We have law clerks that can help us with these things, paralegals, investigators, because you’re putting up a much more serious fight. You have to have an attorney that is not only willing to go to federal court, but is able to navigate a much more complex and less friendly system.
You have to understand the sentencing guidelines, and those are extremely complex. I like to think that the AUSAs that I work with, like me, but this is not state court, where you can go in and kind of work something out, maybe a little probation, but work on restitution, friendly behind the scenes with the prosecutor.
I mean, these are– this is the major leagues, so you need an attorney that knows what they’re doing, is willing to do it, is willing to go to trial if it’s necessary, and has gone to trial. This is not something you can throw your jacket on and a tie, and show up and work out a sweet deal for your client.
This is as serious as it gets. There’s nothing more serious than a United States courtroom.
Scott Michael Dunn: Yeah. I mean, I think they’re terrifying.
Chris Combs: They are. I mean, the first handful of times I walked into them, I was intimidated. And I didn’t do anything wrong, and I was an attorney. I mean, it’s meant to be intimidating.
Scott Michael Dunn: Yeah. I mean, I’ve seen them on TV– I’ve not stepped foot into a federal courtroom, but they just look…incredibly intimidating.
Chris Combs: You cannot compare a federal courthouse to a state courthouse. Would you agree?
Andrew Russek: I mean, they’re beautiful architecture to a degree, but they’re also more serious.
As Chris said, the judges sit higher. How beautiful they are will remind you how much more resources they have to come after you, than your small rural county in Missouri may be able to expend.
Scott Michael Dunn: This may sound silly, but I always say, “I’m not gonna cut my own hair. I’m not gonna work on my own teeth. And I’m not gonna do surgery on myself.”
And I think there’s no difference in fighting, going to war with the law, than any of those.
Chris Combs: And if you’re going to war with the United States government, you better have a team behind you. And that’s something that Combs Waterkotte offers is: We’re not one lawyer and a secretary. You get a full-blown team behind you with us.
We’ve got seven, eight lawyers now, and five support staff, senior litigation paralegal. Brilliant law clerks. So you get a lot of sets of eyes on your discovery and on your case, and the evidence that’s being used against you at our firm.
It’s not just one guy reading through everything. You get multiple sets of eyes, and we have a very stringent discovery review process, so it really sets us apart.
Scott Michael Dunn: Well, how important is that? The difference?
Chris Combs: I don’t know how much more you could really explain how important it is to have multiple sets of eyes on a set of discovery that could be a banker’s box, you know?
Scott Michael Dunn: Mm.
Chris Combs: Could be this big. So if you’re dealing with a federal drug conspiracy and you have to go over a hundred hours of audio and video, I mean, we’re not the United States government, but the law firm has to have the resources to fight the US government.
So, it just being one guy and a secretary– that’s tough. Not saying that you can’t do it. And there are some good, successful federal defense attorneys in town, but that’s pretty much all they do. They don’t do a lot in state court. But again, with Combs Waterkotte, you get a full team behind you.
And I think that that’s critical.
If you’re facing federal charges and need an expert criminal defense lawyer, contact Combs Waterkotte today at (314) 900-HELP or reach out online for a free, confidential case review. We will fight for your rights and freedom.
