The most important thing you can do if you have been accused of committing a crime is to get in touch with an attorney who is knowledgeable and experienced in that particular type of crime. The information presented here is not a substitute for having a good attorney right from the start, and should only be seen as a general guide to get started.
Your business can suffer greatly from any civil or criminal matters, even if you are completely innocent of all wrongdoing, so it is very important to know the law and have someone on your side who knows it even better. Because after all, you don’t have time to run a business and study law at the same time.
What’s The difference?
The major difference between civil and criminal law is that you can be sent to jail and/or prison for a criminal offense. A civil law, such as breach of contract, carries no threat of imprisonment but it could cost the defendant an unreasonable amount of money if they are not defended properly. Most civil cases against a small business, or one of any size for that matter, can be settled for a much smaller amount by an experienced attorney.
Criminal cases have much more at stake than that of a civil case, as you or your business can be effectively shut down for a long period of time by imprisonment of one or more participants or even forfeiture of property. If you have been accused of committing any criminal act it is very important that you have an attorney by your side through every stage of the case to guide your actions, answer any questions you may have, and ultimately represent you at a trial if that becomes necessary.
Criminal law in business
Some of the business-related offenses that come under criminal law include fraud, forgery, extortion, and bribery. These are all considered white collar crimes and while they may carry a threat of jail and/or prison time, they can for the most part be argued down to where the defendant will not serve any time if they are indeed eventually found guilty of the crime.
A good attorney will be able to settle a lot of these cases with a result of the defendant being able to pay fines and restitution and not being forced to serve a lengthy prison sentence. Of course this is not always the case, and the degree of the crime together with the skill of the defense attorney plays a large part in these outcomes.
There’s more than just guilt or innocence
In the areas of both civil and criminal law, nothing is black and white, and you are not just simply “guilty or not guilty”. There are actually many shades of gray in between, and a good attorney will be able to expose this middle ground to save you money, jail time, or other undue sanctions against you or your business.
If you are in need of an experienced and successful criminal defense attorney then contact the law offices of Lawrence Wolf at You Are Innocent to submit your case details and find out what they can do to help you.
