Supporting Defense Teams Without Replacing Them: The Role of Legal Consultants

Legal consultants refer to a broad range of professionals who help with research, advocacy, and other important efforts to support attorneys. Working with a legal consultation organization does not replace the need for an attorney. Instead, these organizations give strength, resources, and power to the work that criminal defense and appellate attorneys do.

What Legal Consultants and Researchers Do

Legal consultants, researchers, and advocates provide legal assistance, rather than legal representation. This assistance is meant to support defense and appellate attorneys in their work, providing the legal research they need to represent their clients. There are many things legal research organizations do, including:

• Securing legal support. Many families reach out to advocacy organizations after a wrongful conviction because they don’t know what to do. It can be especially difficult when the conviction occurred because of ineffective legal counsel, and families know they will not get help from a defense attorney.When they reach out to an advocacy group, these organizations are often able to connect them with experienced attorneys to help with the appeals process or another type of post-conviction relief.
• Collaborating with the defense attorney. Those from an advocacy organization aim to help the defense counsel navigate the criminal case they are handling. Many legal advocacy organizations focus on cases for individuals who are harshly penalized or wrongfully convicted.The organization works with a defense or appellate attorney to assess the options for post-conviction relief, including sentence reduction assessments or reviewing a case for appealable errors.
• Clarifying complex issues. Legal advocacy organizations help individuals and families dealing with an increasingly difficult issue in their lives, answering questions and addressing concerns. They help clarify important legal concepts for individuals dealing with harsh sentences or convictions for crimes they didn’t commit, and their families trying to support them.
• Conducting research. Research and advocacy organizations can review the information in a case, consider current methods of DNA analysis, look over the past trial, and consider the evidence. For appeals cases, these organizations can assess errors in the original case to determine a reason for an appeal.This includes insufficient legal counsel, improperly suppressed evidence, evidence that should have been suppressed but wasn’t, and other civil rights violations. All of this information helps support the case.
• Providing additional support. These organizations can help families consider other avenues to help outside of directly supporting their loved one and an appeals case. This includes local advocacy and reform to change the systems and methods of law enforcement and prosecution that lead to wrongful convictions.Legal consultants can help families find support groups with people who are going through similar situations. They can also help individuals with personal and financial needs during this incredibly traumatic time. This support can help individuals and their loved ones know they aren’t alone in this stressful process.

All of these forms of support by advocacy and research groups mean that they enhance the work an attorney does without overstepping. Attorneys still provide legal advice and defense that legal consultants cannot.

Consultants Don’t Replace Legal Representation

Legal consultants and their organizations are not attorneys, and they do not provide individuals with legal defense in court. When someone is charged with a crime, wrongfully convicted, or receives a sentence that is overly harsh, a research and advocacy organization helps in many ways, but they do not replace a criminal defense lawyer. A lawyer creates a defense or negotiates a plea deal in criminal cases and prepares a case for appeals of a verdict or sentence.

The role of these consultants is to support and strengthen the work an attorney does, providing information and research that streamlines the process of establishing a defense, the grounds for an appeal, or other types of post-conviction relief.

What Does NLPA Do?

All research prepared to assist a defendant’s counsel is prepared by licensed lawyers.At NLPA, our goal is to support and work for people who face harsher criminal penalties than they deserve, and people who are convicted in criminal court of a crime they didn’t commit. We are an advocacy and research organization that helps appellate and defense attorneys as they defend and protect the rights of these individuals. Our team helps research the cases, assessing the options for an appeal, a reduced sentence, and more.

We fight against errors and injustices in the criminal legal system. Wrongful convictions and harsh sentences impact the lives of many people and their families, sometimes taking decades of free life away from someone. Our team works to find the ideal outcome for these cases.

For years, we have worked on both civil and criminal cases, giving attorneys the research, information, and support they need to do their work more effectively and efficiently. Our team is made up of skilled analysts, advocates, and researchers who provide invaluable support to lawyers and their clients.

In appeals cases for post-conviction relief, we review the original case, assess the information presented by expert witnesses, talk with other experts in these fields, investigate the actions by law enforcement and the prosecution, and review testimony. This information can uncover errors that allow for an appeal or reveal other information that allows for relief. We bring our research to defense and appellate lawyers to work with them to assess the right next steps.

Outside of these cases, NLPA works to inform the public and raise awareness of the issues present in the justice system and how they can be fixed. We also advocate for legal changes that help those harmed by the system get back to their lives and recover some of what they lost.

Getting Exceptional Support Overturning Wrongful Convictions and Evaluating Relief

A wrongful conviction or a sentence that is overly harsh for the crime committed can harm individuals, their families, and the community. It can feel isolating as an individual or family to face these miscarriages of justice, but you don’t have to navigate this alone. A conviction is not the end of your criminal case.

At NLPA, we want to work with you to review options for relief. We understand how helpless a wrongful conviction can make you feel. Our goal is to right the wrongs done to people like you, supporting you and your loved ones throughout the case. If you or someone you love was harshly charged or wrongfully convicted, reach out to NLPA to find the legal resources and support you need.

Although not a law firm that represents a defendant, NLPA is owned and staffed by licensed counsel.