If you have found this article, then you are in for a treat. I’m going to tell you some little known facts about criminal lawyers, facts that many of us don’t want to admit (I, though not a Houston criminal attorney, am in the business). These aren’t necessarily embarrassing things, but they are things that most people probably would know or think unless someone told them. Here we go!

1. For the Most Part, Houston Criminal Lawyers are Winging it

You know how, when you watch a criminal lawyer on television, and they look so composed, so calm , so collected, and then they get up and say something that is just earth shattering? Well, that doesn’t really happen in real life. And, to be more specific, most of the stuff that happens in court is completely ad lib, made up on the spot. No, it’s not because the criminal lawyers are unprepared, it’s because that’s what life is like in the courtroom – you never know what is going to happen, and a lot of what is actually set is a reaction to what has happened that you didn’t expect.

2. There Aren’t Very Many “Perry Mason” Moments

Again, back to television. I wish court and the practice of criminal law was like television. So suspenseful. So fair. But it’s not. And in court, you typically don’t have any moments where everyone in the courtroom gasps. The prosecutor has to give all of their evidence to the criminal attorney, and the criminal attorney has to at least provide the prosecutor with his list of witnesses and evidence he intends to present. That takes a lot of the mystery out of it. It’s not like Law & Order, not in the least bit.

3. Criminal Lawyers Get Nervous Too

Ask any Houston criminal attorney and they’ll admit it to you – they get nervous when they have to get up and question a jury or give an opening statement or a closing argument. They are a little bit intimidated by the circumstances, by what is at stake that they are fighting for. And that’s okay. If a lawyer tells you he’s not nervous or not scared, then that’s a red flag. Everyone gets nervous. It’s what you do with that nervousness, though, that separates the good attorneys from the bad ones. The good ones use it to make themselves better, to hone in on every detail, to be their best. The bad ones let it overwhelm them.

There you have it – three things no Houston criminal attorney wants to admit. Did you know those things? Would you have admitted them if asked?