Being a female criminal litigator is not easy. It is much less so to be a female criminal litigator in Colombia, where crime continues to be a protagonist of society and where the most recognized criminal lawyers are men. However, the world of criminal law is full of women, whether they are lawyers, judges, prosecutors, or procurators. But why is that?

What I have observed is that some characteristics that tend to be more developed in women than in men, play a decisive role in this fact and have been important in my personal professional experience: humanity, sensitivity, and responsibility. Also having a detailed approach to each case and providing comprehensive legal advice has improved my experience as a litigator.

After many years of practice, I’m finally aware that one of the issues that mostly attracted me to criminal law, was that it is, perhaps, the most human area of law. Seen from the offender’s point of view, his condition has a lot to do with his background, his most intimate passions, his decisions, and his opportunities or the lack of them, among others. All personal circumstances have something to do with a criminal and studying this personal stage of individuals at the university was amazing for me.

In addition, in professional life the whole proceeding creates a lot of intense emotions in the client (whether innocent or not) and you, as attorney, must be able to identify them and help him to deal with them to have success in the case. His freedom is being discussed!

On the other hand, from the victim’s point of view, it is also a very human scenario. Regardless of whether the client has the right or not, most cases strike a chord within him and, again, you as a lawyer must be there to deal with those emotions and pursue his personal and, in some cases, financial redress in one way or another.

So, a criminal proceeding affects your client’s entire personal life.

We, as women are very good at identifying emotions and that is a characteristic that has been important in my case. It has allowed me to identify the interests and concerns of each client and address them strategically to provide a more human legal advice and representation, making clients feel listened to, important, and protected, despite how hard it can be to go through a criminal process.

Connected to the above, sensitivity allows me to attend to each case as if it were my own, only without the emotional burden that comes with being one of the parties in it, understanding and addressing the client’s concerns that appear in the different stages of the judicial process. Finally, responsibility is essential for being a support center when necessary and for always exposing to the client all the possible legal avenues to resolve the case and their pros and cons.

Another important characteristic is to carry out the work with a high level of detail. Women also tend to see the smallest details in everything, a very important characteristic in criminal litigation: knowing every detail of the facts, evidence, and investigation; and being aware of every mistake in the procedure or any mistake by the prosecutor or your counterparty. Any of these details can be a good opportunity to achieve one or more victories in the client’s interest. Likewise, any seemingly irrelevant detail may hold exculpatory evidence. A feature that fortunately came with me, I enjoy using it and my mentors at PGP taught me to put it into practice in law and to develop it, especially my father who has been my boss and mentor for the longest time.

Finally, the comprehensive approach to each case is a tool that I have had the opportunity to know, learn, and develop thanks to working in a fullservice firm where the criminal area is one among many, and to its policy of addressing each case with that specific approach, a characteristic I probably would not have if I were still working at a firm specialized in criminal law, despite the valuable knowledge I acquired there.

In fact, the first cases in the area were derived mainly from real estate law, land planning law, and civil law. The founding partners have always had a policy of providing comprehensive legal work and that is something that I fit perfectly into, because I love learning and, as I said, detailed work.

A comprehensive approach to the case means establishing and executing the legal strategy not only from the criminal point of view, but also from the scope of the other areas involved, such as real estate, land planning, civil, tax, public, corporate, environmental and/or family law, among others. This work methodology has been consolidated in the area to the point that now I cannot conceive of a case treated solely from a criminal point of view. This leads us to always do teamwork with the other areas involved, which in a full-service firm is not only possible, but easier.

In conclusion, being a woman, some of my personal characteristics, working at PGP, my mentors, and the cases I have worked on have been a perfect combination to be the criminal litigator that I am now and for my professional development.

Laura Pinilla De Brigard

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Laura
Pinilla De Brigard