Meaghan M. Cary

In my 12 years as a public defender the compliment I heard most often from my clients was, “You talk to me like a real person, you really seem to care.”

As I see it, I have two main jobs as a lawyer. The first is to fight hard for my clients, whether that means winning at trial or negotiating to make the best of an unwinable situation. The second, equally important, job is to be an advisor, a counselor. Your case is your own, and at the end of the day it is your life it will impact. My job is to make sure that, at every stage, my clients are well-informed, that they know what is happening, know what my professional assessment of the case is, and have everything they need to make the best decisions about their case for themselves. It is this same philosophy that guides me now in private practice.

My time in the trenches of criminal law gave me the kind of intense trial experience you can’t get anywhere else, but it also taught me what people need from an attorney when they are facing terrifying consequences. Being charged with a crime may feel like the hardest, most frightening time of your life. But I believe that with a good attorney you will have the assurance that you are never alone, that you have a trustworthy ally and advisor every step of the way.