Learn More About Our Approach To Criminal Defense
You’ve got a firm on your side.
Serious criminal cases carry serious consequences. With the Muth Atwood, PLLC, you’ll have a team of legal professionals scrutinize your case and draw upon the experience of multiple attorneys and staff member to strategize and defend your case. Individually, at least one of our attorneys has likely worked on a case that’s similar to yours. Combined, all of our attorneys bring our individual but complementary experience to the table and put it to work for you.
We work with you to identify your goals.
Some of our clients come to us because they are falsely accused of a terrible crime. We’ve responded quickly when our clients are contacted by the police before a prosecution even begins, and through careful but expedient investigation, we’ve been able to avoid the filing of criminal charges in many cases. We’ve gone to trial and won acquittals in serious cases. We’ve also gotten cases dismissed or reduced to much less serious offenses with minimized consequences. Our attorneys have worked with a wide range of investigators and experts over the years who help us develop your case strategy. These include child witness interview experts, forensic medical experts, language experts, and mental health experts.
Other clients come to us because they committed a serious offense and they need help. If you have committed a sex offense, your life is not over. We work closely with you to find the right therapists. We’ve helped clients share difficult information with loved ones and develop a plan for what their life looks like after their case is resolved. We’re proud to say that through our work, our clients have kept the support of loved ones. Your life may look different after a conviction for a sex offense, but it’s not over.
How we manage your resources:
Paying for legal representation often adds a new layer of stress on people who are already experiencing a lot of stress because of a criminal accusation. We’re lucky to have highly skilled support staff to assist us with case organization and document review. In some cases, there are hundreds of pages of phone records or text messages that need to be reviewed. Our paralegal Catlin Gibson, with over 15 years of experience working in the criminal defense field, is well-versed in managing voluminous and/or complex information. Her talent and contribution to our firm helps conserve resources for our clients.
Additionally, there are issues that commonly arise in sexual misconduct cases. It’s likely that among our attorneys, one of us has worked on issues in your case before. We can choose the lawyer with the right experience to handle that part of your case. This means you’re not paying us to reinvent the wheel and you get the added benefit of having an experienced lawyer handle that part of your case.
We also recognize how important it is for you to have accurate projections of cost and be able to review how your money is being spent. For most cases, we ask our clients to deposit a retainer into a trust account that is billed against the rates of the individual professional. Whatever money remains after the case is concluded is promptly returned to you. We give you reasonable projections of cost based on our past experiences in billing cases similar to yours. If something comes up in your case that causes us to adjust our projections, we tell you right away, we tell you why, and we provide a new estimate. We send regular invoices that include trust account statements so you always know how your money is being spent and any updates to the trust account balance. We don’t retain experts without talking to you about their fees first.
We enjoy working with clients of all cultures.
Some of our clients are unfamiliar with the American legal system. Others prefer to communicate in languages other than English. There are also instances where cultural norms play a role in explaining someone’s conduct. We take the time to make certain you understand the process and procedure. You need to be able to make informed decisions about your case. You also need to have confidence and trust in your attorney. We work hard to earn your trust. All of us have years of experience working with interpreters and working with clients from a wide range of countries and cultures. We make it clear upfront that we want you to understand what is happening in your case and in court, no matter how many questions you have, no matter how many times you need it explained—and that’s true for all of our clients. We work with experts in cultural competency, and we’ve successfully convinced prosecutors to resolve cases in ways that take cultural norms and use of language into account. For clients who are facing immigration consequences, we work closely with respected immigration lawyers so that we can advise you of those consequences or, when possible, help you avoid them.