What professional skills do criminal defense lawyers need?

In terms of knowledge, defense lawyers need a broader knowledge structure. One is professional knowledge. The first is legal knowledge, which is taught by law school, including criminal law, criminal procedure law and other laws, judicial interpretation, administrative regulations and departmental rules. , not only legal provisions, but also jurisprudence. Secondly, the technical knowledge of material evidence, including on-site investigation, material evidence extraction, forensic medicine, trace inspection, document inspection, poisoning and so on. It is also necessary for learning and understanding. The second is basic knowledge, including philosophy, sociology, economics, psychology, logic and so on, which is the content of general education. The third is related knowledge, that is, when the case involves financial, securities, accounting, taxation, business and other professional fields, according to the needs of handling cases, apply what you have learned and apply what you have learned urgently.

In terms of professional technology, according to the workflow and content of criminal defense, it mainly includes the following skills: meeting, marking papers, investigating and collecting evidence, asking questions in court, cross-examining in court, debating in court, etc. At present, lawyers' criminal defense business training mainly focuses on professional and technical training to make up for the shortage of law school teaching. In the long run, it is necessary for law schools to introduce a large number of experienced judges, prosecutors and lawyers as practical professors or teachers to teach and train students' practical skills.

In terms of professional ability, four abilities are emphasized: one is legal thinking ability, including presumption of innocence thinking and critical thinking. Criminal defense lawyers should comprehensively examine and question the charges, facts and evidence accused by the prosecution with a rational and prudent attitude. The second is the ability of legal interpretation, that is, the ability to understand and apply legal provisions. Skillfully use the methods of literal interpretation, systematic interpretation, legislator's purpose interpretation, historical interpretation, comparative interpretation, etc. to make a legal interpretation in favor of the defendant. The third is the ability of evidence analysis, that is, the ability to determine the facts of a case from evidence reasoning. In particular, we should be good at extracting and recovering the evidence information that is ignored and hidden by the defendant and reconstructing and correcting the facts of the case. The fourth is the ability to demonstrate and persuade, including the ability to demonstrate, refute and use logic, as well as the ability to communicate and persuade. By weakening the prosecution's argument and finding the logical fallacy in the prosecution's argument, we can effectively refute and convince the referee to accept the defense's point of view.