Andrew J. Baldwin

Andrew is a Criminal Trial Specialist certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA), a nonprofit organization that recognizes attorneys who have demonstrated exceptional trial skills, legal knowledge, and professionalism. To earn this certification, Andrew successfully met the NBTA’s strict requirements, including significant trial experience and a comprehensive evaluation of his legal expertise. His board certification signifies his commitment to excellence in criminal defense and provides clients with the confidence that they are working with a highly qualified and skilled trial attorney. Check here whether the attorney you are considering is certified. When I came up with the concept for “The Criminal Defense Team”, I knew that our firm would initially be mocked by the traditional legal community. No law firm had ever so boldly proclaimed their desired identity. There wasn’t a “Family Law Team” or a “Contract Law Team”. In fact, law firms were always identified by the name of partners in the firm (such as Smith, Jones and Smith, or Farrelly, Drury & Sinfelt, etc…). Who would want to hire a lawyer from a firm that called itself “The Criminal Defense Team?” What did that even mean? The idea hit me while I was in bed worrying about a particular case, and wishing that I had more people in the firm to bounce ideas off of. More people that I could trust. People that had passion. People that were good human beings. People who were empathetic with fellow human beings accused of crimes. People who were not judgmental. A team of these types of people could really make a difference in the lives of our clients and maybe even change the landscape of what superior criminal defense looked like. The problem was that most “Law Firms” that handled criminal defense cases were actually not really law firms. If you hired one of the lawyers, let’s say Bill Farrelly from the fictional law firm “Farrelly, Drury & Sinfelt”, you would expect that both Drury and Sinfelt would be equally as excited about fighting for you. However, what I had learned is that these types of “Law Firms” were actually 3 guys working under the same roof, splitting overhead and not caring about each other’s clients. I didn’t want that. I wanted all of our employees to receive a salary. That way, we would all be invested in each other’s cases. The success of the law firm would depend on the results our clients were receiving and therefore we were all incentivized to help each other out. However, in setting up the business this way, I would have to sacrifice financially in a dramatic way that would affect my family. I didn’t care. My wife was on board. We both knew that this wasn’t about money. It was about obtaining the best results for our clients – again, fellow human beings that deserved the best fight we could give them. That could only be done, in my opinion, by hiring a team and paying everyone a salary.