If you are a professional, such as a doctor, nurse, teacher, or a business owner, being arrested and charged with a crime can obviously have a huge impact on your occupation as well as your professional and personal reputation.
If you are a professional who has been charged with a crime, you likely have little to no criminal history. Because of this, and your professional standing, there will be options available to you that may not be available to most people charged with crimes. A good criminal defense lawyer will sit down with you, discuss your options and objectives, and develop a formidable defense strategy.
Below are some of the things our attorneys try to accomplish for professionals facing criminal charges:
-Hire an investigator who will look for exculpatory evidence by talking to witnesses, finding surveillance video, performing public records requests, etc.
-Explore options that will result in the case getting dismissed, such as pretrial intervention programs. If the case is dismissed after the completion of a pretrial intervention program, the criminal record may be eligible for expungement.
-Hire a mitigation expert who can compile mitigating evidence that can be presented to the state and/or judge, such as the fact that one has no prior criminal history, is a professional, has significant educational achievements, has undergone certain hardships, etc.
-Look for constitutional issues in the case and/or illegal actions on the part of the police that can result in evidence being suppressed and charges dropped.
-If the case cannot otherwise be dismissed, argue for a withhold of adjudication which will avoid one being found guilty of the charge and may open the possibility of later having the record of the case sealed from public view.
Licensing and Regulatory Entities
Most professional licensing and regulatory agencies, such as the Florida Board of Medicine, the Florida Board of Nursing, and the Florida Department of Education require license holders to self-report criminal activity and/or criminal convictions within a certain period of time. Be sure to consult with an attorney before reporting to ascertain whether your legal situation needs to be reported and, if so, when it needs to be reported.
Waive your presence at court dates
A criminal defense attorney in Sarasota and Manatee Counties has the ability to waive your appearance so that you do not have to go to the vast majority of the court dates for your criminal case. Instead of you going, an attorney from our law firm will go to court on your behalf. Please contact us to discuss your case and to determine whether we can waive your court appearances.
Maintain the confidence of our professional clients
Attorneys, like healthcare professionals, are bound to uphold the confidentiality of their clients. Our attorneys and staff will do everything in their power to maintain your privacy. If you would like, our attorneys, not office staff, can communicate with you exclusively in order to ensure confidentiality. We will be sure to exercise the utmost discretion throughout the course of the representation.
Protect your reputation
When a professional is arrested there is oftentimes negative publicity online, such as news reports, comments on social media, and published mugshots. Our law firm works closely with a local reputation management company that work to erase or bury mugshots and negative information (such as news reports) on the internet. Please let us know if you would like more information regarding reputation management.
To learn more about the criminal defense attorneys at Soler & Simon and how they can help you if you are facing criminal charges, please visit our homepage.