Objection! What it is really like being a criminal lawyer?

Friday, 5 January 2024

Some jobs make for good television, but how they are portrayed on our screens is often blindingly inaccurate. Mariné Lourens speaks to a criminal defence lawyer to find out if they get nervous speaking in court, whether “a surprise witness” is ever really called, and what they do when they know their client is guilty. (See also What is it really like being a chef? and What is it really like to be a policeman?)

Christchurch barrister Ethan Huda knows how to think on his feet. He is able to recite an impressive amount of criminal law off the top of his head. And he has a thick skin - a very thick skin.

“You shouldn’t be a criminal defence lawyer if you don’t have a thick skin,” he says matter-of-factly.

Huda has been practising criminal law for almost a decade but says, surprisingly, he “kind of fell into it”. He always knew he wanted to litigate (represent people in court) and the quickest ways to do that was either through criminal law or family law.

After graduating from the University of Canterbury, he completed his professional legal studies and met a few criminal defence lawyers along the way. “When I came out of law school, I had a job and I did it and it worked for me.”

He has since represented clients in every court in the country, from the District Court all the way up to the Supreme Court. He has acted for people charged with drug charges, sexual offences, manslaughter and murder, and represented people during numerous trials and other court appearances.

Naturally, courtrooms are places where emotions often run high. After all, there is a lot at stake. But does it ever get as dramatic as you see on the courtroom dramas on TV?

Absolutely, says Huda. Many court cases deal with serious incidents and require people to testify about traumatic and distressing experiences. “People get upset, people cry. You are challenging core aspects of [their story] trying to show who is telling the truth. It does get dramatic.”

There are however a lot of things you’ll see on television that you’ll never see in real life. Like a “surprise witness” or an unexpected piece of evidence suddenly being presented that shocks everyone in the courtroom.

“On TV, you need the ‘sudden’ to dramatise it, but if in reality something really big and sudden happens, there will be a mistrial and we’ll start all over again, because we don’t like surprises,” says Huda.

Huda says a misconception he sometimes encounters is people thinking that getting acquitted on a criminal charge is always possible if you just pay your lawyer enough.

“Some people, even our clients sometimes, think if they pay us money or if you are a good lawyer, you will get them off. Good lawyers matter when it is on the cusp, but most […] cases are pretty clear cut. If you have an arguable case to begin with and you have a good lawyer, you are amplifying your chances of success. But this is not the case with cases that are inarguable, unwinnable. [TV] definitely gives people a very wrong sense of what lawyers can do.”

Of course he has had clients who claim they are innocent when the evidence is blindingly clear that they are not. “In those cases, I will advise them that their prospects of success in court are zero or very low. If they insist [on defending the charge], I will advise them to get a second opinion. Because the evidence is the evidence. There is no changing that.”

Huda says while he used to get nervous speaking in court, he doesn’t anymore. It all comes down to preparation, he says. If you are prepared, there is nothing to be nervous about.

Most of the time, there is a feeling of respect and courtesy between the opposing sides - the prosecution and the defence. But it is not uncommon for some animosity to crop up.

“There are lawyers who take it very personally and there is a high degree of animosity, and then there are lawyers where there is none of that,” he says. “Many of my friends happen to be prosecutors. Does that mean I go easy on them and they go easy on me? No. We are there to do a job. Once we’re done in court, let’s go get a coffee. But I do know lawyers who make it deeply personal.”

There are not many funny moments when you are constantly dealing with the kind of serious matters he deals with, but Huda does remember one humorous incident with a client charged with drug importation. “The man was a foreigner and had a very thick, very distinct accent. When police played him an audio recording of a phone call where he asked for the package to be collected, he responded: ‘Well, how can you tell if that’s me?’ Even the police officer couldn’t help but laugh.”

He is not blind to the negative stereotype that sometimes cling to criminal lawyers - some view them as “shifty”, the bad guys who are trying to keep criminals out of jail.

That is not the case, Huda explains.

“Even in cases where there is absolutely no doubt as to someone’s guilt, does that mean that person does not deserve a lawyer? Our country puts a large value on the rule of law, on a system that says everyone is equal before the law. You can’t have a situation where someone is about to be deprived of their very liberty … and say but they cannot have a lawyer. That doesn’t work because then they are not equal before the law.”

Yes, he gets a lot of abuse from strangers for doing what he does. “I will get phone calls, Facebook messages, voice messages. In fact, the last one I got, the woman did not even put her number on private. She left me an actual message from her actual number and abused me and hung up the phone. It is quite common.”

He doesn’t allow the abuse to bother him, he says. “People are entitled to their views and frankly, I can’t be upset about every narrow-minded view aimed my way.”

Despite the abuse, Huda enjoys his job. The law, the intellectual stimulation, taking on a well-resourced opponent. “I like [being] a vehicle to an access to justice. That’s what most defence lawyers provide. Access to justice.”