Plea Decision-Making: The Influence of Attorney Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Recommendation

The social influence a defense attorney has on a defendant can significantly impact a defendant’s decision to plead guilty. This study explores the influence of attorney characteristics and recommendations by seeking to answer two questions: (1) how do defense attorneys convey trustworthiness and expertise to defendants? and (2) how do these factors influence a defendant’s willingness to follow an attorney’s plea recommendation? The results indicated that participants viewed attorneys with jurisdiction-specific knowledge, subject-matter knowledge, case-based knowledge, and experienced-based knowledge as having the most expertise. Additionally, dependable, transparent, honest, and communicative attorneys were considered trustworthy. Participants were more likely to follow their attorney’s recommendations when the attorney was high in trustworthiness and recommended pleading guilty. A large majority of participants that were advised to reject the plea went against their attorney’s advice and pled guilty, regardless of the level of attorney trustworthiness. Moreover, participants were more confident in their plea decisions when they had an attorney with a high level of expertise. This study sheds light on the importance of the lawyer-client relationship and how an attorney’s interpersonal skills can impact the plea process.

“[D]efendants are attuned to the attorneys’ level of trustworthiness and expertise, although with differing effects. The attorney’s level of trust (high) played a role in defendants’ willingness to follow the attorney’s advice and plea decisions, while the attorney’s level of expertise (high) played a role in defendants’ overall confidence in their decision.” p. 32