Questions to Ask Before Buying Criminal Defense Leads

Before paying for criminal defense leads, ask what each lead costs all in, what happens when a lead is bad, whether resale is disclosed, how cancellation works, and how long the commitment runs.

Signing up for a lead-generation service and actually paying for a batch of leads are two different decisions, and the second one deserves its own, more transactional set of questions. By the time you're here, you've likely already decided a service is worth trying (the questions to ask before signing up for any lead generation service cover that stage) — what's left is making sure the specific transaction terms don't cost you more than the leads are worth.

What does each lead actually cost, all in?

A quoted per-lead price sometimes excludes setup fees, minimum monthly spend, or a required package size that pushes your real cost per lead well above the headline number. Ask for the total cost of a realistic first month, not just the sticker price on an individual lead. For context on typical ranges, see how much a criminal defense lead costs.

What happens if a lead is bad?

"Bad" needs a definition before you can evaluate the policy around it: a lead where the person turns out to already be represented, a lead with no working contact information, a lead miscategorized into the wrong offense type. Ask specifically whether bad leads are replaced, credited, or refunded, and what proof (if any) you need to provide to get that credit. A vendor with no answer here is telling you bad leads are simply your cost to absorb. The practical checklist of what makes a lead high quality gives you a definition to hold the vendor to.

How is "resold" defined, and is it disclosed?

Some vendors will tell you a lead was sent to other firms if you ask; others will only ever say "exclusive" without qualification. Ask directly: is a given lead's category and county combination ever sent to more than one subscribing attorney, and if so, is that disclosed at the time of delivery or only if you happen to ask? A fuller breakdown of how to check this yourself is worth reading before you commit to any vendor's answer at face value, as is the breakdown of exclusive vs. shared criminal defense leads.

What's the actual cancellation process?

Not just whether you can cancel, but how: a written notice period, a specific date each month by which you must act, an auto-renewal clause that resets a contract term if you miss a deadline by a day. These details are usually in the fine print rather than the sales conversation, and they matter more than the price once you're a few months in.

Do you pay for leads you can't use?

If a vendor sends leads outside your stated county or category filters — even occasionally — do those count against your paid volume? A vendor billing you for leads that don't match what you configured is effectively raising your real price per usable lead without changing the number on the invoice.

Is there a minimum commitment before you've seen real results?

A single month is usually enough to judge whether a lead source is producing usable volume in your categories. A required commitment longer than that, before you have real data on your own conversion rate, shifts the risk of an unproven vendor onto you.

The bottom line

These are contract and billing questions, not quality questions — they matter regardless of how good the underlying leads turn out to be, because a technically good lead sold under bad terms is still a bad purchase.

See the actual pricing structure and cancellation terms — no minimum commitment required to start.