What should I do before I go to court?
If you have an attorney before your arraignment date, talk with your attorney in advance. The more your attorney understands about your case, the more he/she can help you.
Generally speaking, you should plan on staying at least three hours for your arraignment and in crowded courts you may be required to stay all day, until approximately 4:30 p.m. The courtroom is likely to be crowded and it may be a while before the judge gets to your case. Be early so that you will have enough time to find out where to go and to make sure you do not miss your case being called.
What are my rights?
Anyone charged with a crime has certain legal rights. You have the right to remain silent when questioned. You do not have to say anything about the facts of your case. If you do, your statements can be used against you in a court of law including during your trial. You have the right to the presence of an attorney during any questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Practically speaking, the appointment of lawyer for a defendant who cannot afford an attorney usually does not occur until the first court appearance. You have the right to be considered for bail except in murder cases.
How do I file a complaint against my lawyer?
In most countries, particularly civil law countries, there has been a tradition of giving many legal tasks to a variety of civil law notaries, clerks, and scriveners.These countries do not have “lawyers” in the American sense, insofar as that term refers to a single type of general-purpose legal services provider; rather, their legal professions consist of a large number of different kinds of law-trained persons, known as jurists, some of whom are advocates who are licensed to practice in the courts.It is difficult to formulate accurate generalizations that cover all the countries with multiple legal professions, because each country has traditionally had its own peculiar method of dividing up legal work among all its different types of legal professionals
