Hiring the Best Article 120 Defense Lawyer? Ask Who Is Cross-Examining the Accuser and Experts

Here’s another factor that is crucial, in my opinion: publications, whether books, articles, or book chapters, specifically on sexual assault defense. I think a legitimate question to ask a lawyer you’re looking to hire is, “Have you ever written a book?” If the answer is no, that’s a factor to look at. Have you ever written a book on sexual assault, on cross-examination, on closing arguments, on DNA, on expert witnesses? What about forensic psychology? Have you ever written anything, an article?

If a lawyer has written books, even one, about military law, criminal defense, or cross-examination, that is a good sign. If they’ve written books specifically on sexual assault, DNA, and all those other things I mentioned, that tells you they understand the science, the psychology, and the trauma mechanics at a deep level. You can’t fake a book. It takes years to research a legal book, because these legal books get highly scrutinized by lawyers who tear them apart. You can’t put a piece of crap out there and say, “Oh, I wrote a book,” or it’s going to get panned pretty badly, especially if it’s a book on sexual assault, DNA, forensics, something like that.

In addition, articles and book chapters matter, too. Just because you haven’t written a book does not mean you’re not a lead lawyer. I would look to see if they’ve written chapters in books. Do they have to do with military law? Have they published legal analysis on sexual assault, consent, memory, alcohol, or trauma narratives? All this stuff is super important if you’re going to defend a sexual assault case. You need to know this stuff. If the lawyer wrote about it, that indicates they’re an expert on that topic. These types of legal articles are not easy to write, and they’re not written by casual practitioners.