When people call us for Illinois criminal attorney referrals, one question we get a lot is, “Do they have a winning record?” There is a perception out there that you can look up an attorney’s record like they are baseball standings on espn.com or something.

The truth is that there are no win/loss records available for criminal defense lawyers in Illinois. And even if they were, they would be incredibly misleading for a couple of reasons.

First off, consider someone like the disgusting Highland Park shooter or any other criminal who is literally caught red handed doing their crime. If you are on video doing the act or there are tons of eyewitnesses, the “best” criminal lawyer in the world isn’t going to get that case dismissed. So if that is your idea of a win, that is impossible.

More so, what a win actually is is open to interpretation. If I told you that you were getting a two-year prison sentence for a drug charge, you’d probably consider that a loss. Nobody wants to go to prison. But a couple of years ago, I helped a family find a top Chicago criminal lawyer, and he got their son a two year sentence, and they were so happy that they couldn’t stop hugging him. Why? Well that’s because before they came to us, the public defender was telling them the best they could do was an eight-year sentence. This person was guilty with no defense, but the family considered it a win because the sentence was so much better.

In some cases, a win is just that, getting the charges dismissed or being found not guilty at trial. In other cases you’d consider it a success if you got court supervision or probation without jail time. For some people a win is getting a serious felony reduced to a misdemeanor. And for some a win might mean that instead of a life sentence with no parole you are eligible for parole in 20 years.

The key point is that every case is different. A win to you could be a loss to someone else and could be neither to another person. Every result requires context and facts.

So if a lawyer tells you they’ve never lost a case, they are either lying or have been in practice for a week. Or if they say they have a better than 90% success rate, they are spinning what that actually means to market themselves to you. The best criminal attorneys don’t get a great result in every case. They do increase your chances of a great result though.

If you’d like our recommendation to a top criminal attorney, please call us any time at 312-346-5320.