What to Bring to a First Consultation With a Criminal Defense Lawyer

You have a meeting with a lawyer and a pile of paper

You or a family member booked a first meeting with a criminal defense lawyer. The meeting is short, you are nervous, and you are not sure what the lawyer actually needs to see. This page is the general Michigan checklist: what to bring, why each item matters, and the rule behind it.

It is general information, not advice about your case, and it works for a meeting with an appointed lawyer or a retained one. The site's own consultation page and the post on what to expect at a free criminal defense consultation describe how the office runs its meetings. The sibling guide on questions to ask a criminal defense lawyer covers the other half of the hour.

One rule to know going in: MRPC 1.18 says a person who consults a lawyer about possible representation is a prospective client, and the lawyer may not use or reveal what you said even if no client-lawyer relationship follows. You can speak plainly.

Papers from the arrest and the court, first

Court papers carry conditions and deadlines that started running before you called anyone. Bring the originals or clear photos of each one, and write on a separate sheet the date you received it.

• The ticket, citation, complaint or warrant. It names the offense and the statute, which tells the lawyer the possible penalty and which court you are in.
• The release order and bond receipt. An order with protective conditions must state the conditions, the date they took effect and the date they expire (MCL 765.6b(2)); the receipt shows what was posted and who is named as depositor. The guide on what bond and bail mean explains the terms.
• The notice of your next court date, and any interim bond receipt from the police or jail (MCL 780.581(2)).
• Any property receipt for a phone, car, firearm or cash the police kept.
• In an OWI case, the breath or blood test paperwork, the temporary paper license, and any Secretary of State notice. If you refused a test, a hearing must be requested within 14 days after the notice date or the Secretary of State imposes a suspension (MCL 257.625f(1)). The OWI pillar guide lists every paper to keep after an OWI arrest.
• Any personal protection order and the petition served with it. A motion to modify or rescind an ex parte PPO must be filed within 14 days after service or actual notice (MCL 600.2950(13)).
• Any probation, parole or other pending-case paperwork, and any custody or parenting-time order, because a new charge can affect those.

Your own account and your evidence, unaltered

Write a timeline while it is fresh: where you were, who was there, what was said, what the police did, and what you signed. Date it and bring it to the lawyer. Do not post it, text it or share it with anyone else, because what you give your lawyer is protected and what you give a friend is not.

List everyone who saw or heard any part of it, with phone numbers and one line on what each person knows. Hand the list to the lawyer and let the lawyer make the contact. If your bond includes a no-contact condition, it can bar contact of any kind with the protected person, including through friends and family (MCL 780.582a(2); MCR 6.106(D)(2)(m)).

Bring messages, call logs, photos, videos, doorbell footage and social media in complete, original form, with dates. Do not delete, crop, edit or clean up anything, and do not log in to anyone else's account to collect material. A lawyer can work with messy evidence; a lawyer cannot undo a deleted thread.

Facts about you that change the analysis

Some facts about you change what the charge means, so tell the lawyer even if they feel unrelated. Start with every prior arrest, conviction, deferral or diversion, in any state, with rough dates. One way to check your Michigan record is ICHAT, the Internet Criminal History Access Tool run by the Michigan State Police. For a fee set by the state, it searches the public criminal history records the State Police keep. It does not show suppressed records, warrants, federal or other-state records, juvenile records, traffic records or local misdemeanors, so it is a starting point rather than the whole picture.

Also tell the lawyer about:

• Your immigration status if you are not a U.S. citizen. Under Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010), defense counsel must tell a noncitizen client whether a plea carries a risk of deportation, and the lawyer cannot do that without knowing your status.
• Any professional license, security clearance, teaching certificate or commercial driver's license, since a conviction can trigger separate reporting or sanctions.
• Probation or parole in another case, and any pending charge anywhere.
• Firearms you own or keep at home, especially if a PPO or protective bond condition is in place (MCL 765.6b(3)).
• Your questions, written down, so the hour is not spent trying to remember them.

Confidentiality, and who should come with you

What you tell your lawyer is protected two ways. The attorney-client privilege keeps the court from forcing the conversation into evidence, and MRPC 1.6 bars the lawyer from revealing your confidences and secrets without your consent. MRPC 1.18 extends that protection to a consultation that never turns into a hire. Both generally depend on the conversation being private.

That is why the person who drove you should usually wait outside. A third person in the room can affect whether the conversation stays privileged, so ask the lawyer before bringing anyone in. If a parent or spouse is paying, MRPC 1.8(f) lets the lawyer accept that payment only with your consent and without the payer directing the case, and the lawyer still owes confidentiality to you, not to them.

Never bring the complaining witness or anyone named in a no-contact order, and do not ask them to write a letter for the meeting. The domestic violence pillar guide has a charge-specific list in what to bring to a first meeting with a lawyer.

What to do next

Put everything in one folder, paper or scanned, in date order. Do not leave originals with anyone but your lawyer. If a document is missing, note what it was and who gave it to you; the lawyer can request police reports and recordings from the prosecutor once the case is filed.

This checklist is general information about Michigan law. Talk to a lawyer about your own case: a lawyer who sees your actual papers can tell you which deadlines apply to you and what the next step is. The office of Attorney Shawn Haff offers a free consultation at 616-438-6719, answered 24 hours a day, at 2675 44th St SW, Suite 208, Wyoming, MI 49519, or at 250 Monroe Ave NW, Suite 304, Grand Rapids, MI 49503. You can also use the contact page.