Since I became a lawyer, I have not handled many criminal cases, but I have encountered several cases with a lot of files. As a serious lawyer, I should read all the case files at least three times: the first time, I should read them roughly to get a preliminary understanding of the overall situation of the case; Read it carefully for the second time to learn more about the case process; The third intensive reading combines the key issues of the case.
But just read it a few times and underline the key points on the case file. As far as my experience is concerned, it is obviously not enough to just mark it, because: first, it is not conducive to grasping the case. There are a dozen or twenty books, each with hundreds of pages. It is almost impossible to recite the case without scoring records and only by crossing and folding. A good memory is not as good as a bad writing, and making a record of the case can also make you grasp the case more clearly. Second, it is not conducive to finding a breakthrough defense. Because the contents of the case are likely to be distributed in different files, such as a drug crime, the file materials of different defendants are rolled up separately, but each defendant may identify other defendants in his confession to participate in the crime. If you don't keep score records, it will become more difficult to compare everyone's confession, which is not conducive to finding the breakthrough point of defense better and more intuitively. Third, it is not conducive to saving paper and reducing the burden on lawyers. There are many files. If all the case files are typed, paper will inevitably cost a lot of money, and lawyers will be very tired when handling cases. Once in a drug case, an old lawyer from other places was dragged to the court with a luggage file. It seems that lawyers can't do without good physical strength. Therefore, in order to better handle the case, a good marking record is essential.
So what kind of marking records do you really need to handle criminal cases? How can I do a good job of marking records?
Of course, the first thing is to read the case file, find out the problems that should be paid attention to after mastering the case, and make marking records according to the problems. So what should we pay attention to? Different cases have different problems and need specific analysis. Take a case of illegally absorbing public deposits as an example, we should understand the company involved, the defendant's participation in the crime, the projects involved in the crime and so on. I usually insert a directory on the home page to find relevant content. I believe that everyone has a more intuitive feeling through the following pictures:
Marking transcripts should concentrate all the relevant contents under each question that should be concerned, so as to fully grasp the case and visually compare the evidence.
Secondly, there are many forms of marking transcripts. The version mentioned above is Word, and we can also realize it through Excel, as shown in the following figure:
Of course, some people will ask you how long it will take to do this. In the past, when I could only take photos and read newspapers, it seemed to increase the workload of lawyers. But now, with the advent of the era of electronic marking, it is much easier to take reading notes. For example, we can use tools to convert the electronic volume of PDF into Word, and then copy and paste the relevant text, and at the same time, we can insert it into Word through screen capture, so that the process of making reading notes becomes easy.
Finally, my personal approach is to extract the contents of the case file from the original text, so that it can be quoted when writing defense words or asking questions and expressing defense opinions.
It does take a lot of time and energy to make a detailed and appropriate marking record that is conducive to handling cases, but it does bring great convenience to us to handle cases better. Even when other defendants' defense lawyers drag a big bag of files to attend the trial, and you only need dozens of pages of marking records to deal with it easily, you will be glad that you have made such marking records, which is probably one of my achievements as a lawyer.
The above is personal experience, for your reference only!