Guilty on Appearance
Criminal defense attorneys are so concerned with how their clients appear in court, and that’s because they know the power of appearance, and how it affects the attitudes of judges and jurors*, in particular.
Just imagine the defendant — a fellow who used to look so rough — who shows up in court looking like an attorney himself, all clean cut and polished. “This fellow certainly doesn’t look like he could have done it. Men in Armani don’t do such terrible things to children.”
Then why don’t criminal defense attorneys see it? Why don’t they see that so many of their Web sites (the ones that look like they were designed by color blind sixth-graders) have a negative affect on potential clients?
Those sites drive good, high-class criminals (the sort you see in movies) away. Instead, they attract zanies — the hardest people in the world to defend and the ones who can least afford a good, skillful lawyer.
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* There’s no doubt about it — people can form their first impressions of others in one quick instant. Given that juries can be so unpredictable, a defendant needs to make the best appearance he can. In that respect, law firms are like defendants, while clients are like juries.
