At the Watt Law Firm, We are Attorneys and Counselors

Hello beautiful people,

Success in criminal defense comes in different forms: 1) Successful trials are one measure; 2) Successful plea bargains, yet another; 3) Successful motions certainly help facilitate good outcomes, too.

All three of the above are nice ways to gauge success and there is no doubt that having professional, as well as financial success, feels great. The one metric, however, that most criminal defense attorneys forget to add is: Are we leaving people better than we found them? In other words, when the case is finished, and the file is closed, are the people we represented healthier?

Did we address: 1) Mental health; 2) Physical health; 3) Substance abuse; 4) Five and ten year plan (especially for young clients); 5) Parenting skills; 6) Conflict resolution skills; 7) The underlying reason they are facing criminal charges; 8) Where they can find resources to assist in their own development; 9) Unresolved trauma; and, 10) Overall attitude.

At this office, we don't take the role of counselor lightly. In fact, more often than not we are engaged in the counseling aspect with more frequency than the attorney aspect of the job.

If you are reading this and saying to yourself that we are not professionally qualified to counsel the public, you are correct. However, the demand is there, so rising to the occasion isn't optional. To be blunt: the people we represent have needs that go beyond the scope of the job description. And we are in a privileged position to address those needs and see to it that they leave our office in better shape than when they came in.

It is an absolute honor to wake up, daily, and know that our gifts are being used -- in a very small way -- to create peace.

In closing, I often hear from people: "How can you represent those shitheads and sleep at night?" My answer is always the same: "Because they are mine."

-Gregory Watt at www.kcmetrodefense.com