Hiring an attorney is worthwhile for any legal matter, for a number of reasons. For one thing, you are probably not a legal expert; that’s not something you do every day. Of course, even if you did work in the legal field, you may not be an expert in the area of law that you need for your case; a real estate lawyer is probably not the best choice to handle a criminal matter, for example.

There’s an old adage that the defendant who represents himself has a fool for a client, and it’s true. It’s always worthwhile to hire an attorney for any legal matter, but it’s especially worthwhile for a criminal matter, in which a defendant could be imprisoned or fined and find themselves with a permanent conviction on their criminal record.

Anyone who values their freedom should hire a criminal defense attorney when needed, because they will provide you with a third party to provide you with an independent objective analysis, whereas, if you’re the defendant, your subjective interpretation and emotions will get in the way of providing yourself a good defense.