Studio Legale Petrali · Choosing your defence counsel
You choose a criminal defence lawyer by checking three concrete things: that criminal law is the field they practise habitually, not one among many; that they have specific experience with the kind of proceedings that concern you; and that they ensure ongoing contact between lawyer and client. To these, add clarity from the very first meeting about what the engagement involves and how the fee is determined. No serious professional can promise an outcome, and a promise of that kind is in itself a reason to look elsewhere.
Certain documents signal that proceedings are already under way and that deadlines are running. In these cases, time lost is rarely recovered.
The informazione di garanzia (notice of investigation). It is the document through which you learn you are under investigation, and it invites you to appoint defence counsel of your choosing. It is neither a final charge nor a committal for trial, but it is the moment when the defence can begin to make a difference: access to the disclosable case file, defence investigations, filing written submissions.
Searches and seizures. They are, by definition, surprise measures: the record drawn up in those minutes shapes what follows, and short time limits apply for challenging a seizure before the review court. In corporate criminal matters, the seizure of documents, devices or funds is often the most immediate damage, well before any conviction.
The summons for questioning. The decision whether to answer, to exercise the right to remain silent or to file written statements should be taken after seeing the file and after agreeing the defence strategy with your lawyer, not in front of the officer conducting the interview.
The notice of conclusion of preliminary investigations under Article 415-bis of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure. It opens a time-limited window to examine the entire file, file memoranda and documents, put forward evidence, and ask to be questioned. It is the last structured opportunity to avoid prosecution, and the deadline is strict: it should be diarised the very day the notice is received.
The same applies to the injured party: deciding whether and how to join the proceedings as a civil party, which steps to press for, whether to file a complaint and within what time limits requires qualified legal assistance just as much as the suspect’s position does.
Genuine specialisation. Criminal law has its own procedural rules, its own tempo and a defence technique that cannot be improvised. Make sure the professional habitually handles criminal proceedings, rather than accepting them occasionally.
Experience in the specific field. Criminal law is not a monolith. Tax offences, bankruptcy and corporate offences, workplace safety, environmental law, corporate liability: each area has its own body of rules, its own case law and different investigative practices. Asking how many proceedings of that kind the lawyer has handled is a legitimate question, and the answer is telling.
Availability. Searches, arrests, summonses and procedural deadlines do not follow office hours. Clarify who answers in an emergency and who actually handles the file.
Clarity on the engagement and the fee. The engagement must state for which proceedings and which stages it is conferred. As to the fee, a written quote with the criteria for its determination — expected activity, stages, expenses — is correct practice and should be requested without embarrassment.
Frankness of assessment. A useful defence lawyer also says what one does not want to hear: where the prosecution case is strong, what risks a procedural choice carries, what outcomes are realistically at stake.
Retained counsel (difensore di fiducia) is appointed by the person concerned (Article 96 of the Code of Criminal Procedure), who chooses the professional and may appoint up to two. Court-appointed counsel (difensore d’ufficio, Article 97) is designated by the authority conducting the proceedings when the person has not appointed one, to ensure that no one is left without professional legal representation: they are lawyers on dedicated rosters, with availability obligations. The practical difference is not one of professional quality but of choice: the client chooses their own lawyer. A retained appointment automatically replaces the court-appointed one.
In proceedings arising from tax audits, social security disputes, insolvency procedures or suspicious transaction reports, the alleged facts are reconstructed through accounting records, tax returns, financial flows and books. A defence that confines itself to legal argument, without engaging with the figures, works in the dark.
Defence counsel must therefore know how to read a processo verbale di constatazione (the tax audit report), identify where the reconstruction is conjectural, and coordinate with the company’s commercialista and with defence experts for accounting, valuation or digital analysis. The distinction between the tax or administrative track and the criminal one also matters: they are autonomous proceedings, with different rules of evidence, and what is settled in the tax forum does not automatically close the criminal one, although it may carry weight.
In proceedings against entities there is a further layer: the position of the company does not coincide with that of the individual under investigation, and the defence of one may conflict with that of the other. The need for separate defences, and the position of the supervisory body (organismo di vigilanza), must be checked from the outset.
If a retained lawyer was appointed when the record was drawn up, that lawyer should be contacted so that the defence can be prepared. If that was not possible, the authority conducting the proceedings will appoint one from the duty list, who likewise must be contacted so that the necessary steps can follow. The person concerned may decide to continue with court-appointed counsel, and may also convert the court appointment into a retained one, or appoint a lawyer of their own choosing, in which case the court appointment automatically lapses.
No. Court-appointed counsel is entitled to their fee, which remains payable by the person assisted. Legal aid (patrocinio a spese dello Stato) is a different matter: it requires a specific application and satisfaction of the income requirements set by law; in that case the fee is paid by the State, and it is also available with retained counsel enrolled in the relevant lists.
Yes. Revocation and a new appointment are unrestricted and require no statement of reasons. It is advisable to manage the transfer of the file carefully and to check which deadlines have already run or are about to expire, because a change of counsel does not reopen them.
Legislative Decree 231/2001 provides for the liability of companies, associations and entities for a defined list of offences committed in their interest or to their advantage by persons in senior positions or by their subordinates. It is independent of the individual’s liability and entails monetary penalties, possible disqualification measures and confiscation of the profits. The adoption and effective implementation of an adequate organisation and management model, with a functioning supervisory body, is relevant to excluding or reducing liability.
It depends on the subject matter, the stage and the work actually required: a figure quoted before knowing the file would not be reliable. The rule is that the fee be agreed in writing when the engagement is conferred, stating the calculation criteria, the stages covered and the expenses, and that any extension of the work likewise be agreed in writing.
Studio Petrali practises white-collar and corporate criminal law, with offices in Milan, Monza and Ferrara; to get in touch, please use the Contacts page.