The complex and ever changing caselaw relating to crimes, criminal procedure and criminal evidence is another such tool, a tool that is not used well by a lawyer who doesn't practice in the criminal courts daily. Unless your lawyer regularly deals with such criminal law issues, his or her imagination may not be primed to seize upon the subtle nuances of the facts which will permit the fashioning of a winning defense. A criminal defense lawyer is a trial lawyer. The jury trial is what criminal defense lawyers live for. Such lawyers prefer to go to trial, and recommend that option to clients more often than do their civil counterparts.
Civil lawyers tend to give conservative advice.
Where money or property is concerned, it is usually better to negotiate and settle a case rather than take the possibly 'all or nothing' gamble, and added expense, of a trial. A conservative approach in a criminal case will almost always mean pleading guilty and seeking the least amount of punishment. Now, many times a plea negotiation is how criminal cases are resolved in the best interests of the client. The true criminal defense lawyer, however, approaches even plea negotiations with aggression. The defense attorney must come out strong in persuading the prosecution that the weaknesses in its case justify a compromise on punishment.