Depends. If you're involved in anything shady, you might want to ask you associates who they use. In the US, if you get arrested you will be given a Public Defnder. They are usually overworked and underpaid and just looking to make a plea deal. A top flight lawyer can get literally $1,000/hour.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The only shady thing I do is piracy, so I'd hope I wouldn't need the best lawyer? But how would I a lawyer after being pulled over before talking to the police?

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're talking about two different things.

If they knock on your door and ask to talk, you say nothing and call a lawyer.

If you get a traffic stop and you aren't high or carrying contraband, just cooperate, because they probably don't want to waste time hassling you.

I don't know what they are doing about piracy these days, I'd check on another community.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh good to know the above advice doesn't apply to traffic stops. But how would you go about calling a lawyer if a cop knocks on your door? Will they consult quickly? I doubt the cops will wait very long.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is why people have lawyers on retainer, or have a lawyer friend that they can call at the drop of a hat/ know on the door. If you don't know any lawyers personally, I'm not sure what to tell you, I met all of my lawyer friends while I was studying for my degree, and they were in law school.

The nice part is that they just have to be a lawyer most of the time. The cops in the US don't know the law, aren't trained in the law, and treat lawyers like the kryptonite that they are to cops.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah I don't know any personally. I wouldn't think many people could just phone a law friend.

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago

If you are lucky, they'll allow younto make a phone call to either family or legal council.

In the US, the best option is to be wealthy enough to have a family lawyer, or otherwise a friend who knows what to do in case of detention by law enforcement.

If you have a family member who can adult, they can comb through the many non-profit legal services and see for which ones your incarceration qualifies.

That said, copyright infringement is not a felony in the US and you'll piss off the lawyers of the MPA and RIAA if they can narrow it down to you, but you're in danger of non-legal retribution like your ISP throttling your service.

Kim Dotcom got his house raided by ICE (in New Zealand!) on alleged piracy grounds (by way of the MEGAupload service) but that case is way more complicated and has to do with a new (legal) music distro service he was rolling out that competed with the record labels. I digress.

But the police are less interested in stopping crime as much as pinning crime on someone easy (preferably marginalized or counter-culture) So you're in danger just from pure luck.

Also thanks to the CFAA the average American commits three felonies a day, mostly social media TOS violations. No one enforces these unless youre already regarded as a person of interest. Then these can be used to add years to a sentence. Judges are getting less interested in enforcing petty CFAA violations until your infecting hospitals with ransomware.

The reality in the US is the legal system is very arbitrary and routinely jails people (or kills them) for no good reason just to channel warm bodies into the prison industrial complex. The US has more inmates, total or per capita, than any other nation. Many in gulag conditions or worse.