What Should Be Included in a Criminal Defense Lead?

A usable criminal defense lead includes seven fields: full name, mailing address, specific charge category, filing date, case number, court and county, and representation status.

A lead is only as useful as the fields it actually contains. Vendors describe their product in terms of quality and volume, but the practical test is simpler: can you open the record and immediately act on it, or are you missing something you'll need before you can send a letter or make a call? This is the field-by-field version of the broader high-quality lead checklist.

Full name

The obvious starting point, but worth stating precisely: a full legal name, not an initial or a partial, matched to how the name actually appears on the court filing. A mismatch here — a nickname, a misspelling, a maiden versus married name — is a common reason outreach fails to reach the right person or reaches them in a way that looks like a mistake.

Why does a lead need a current mailing address?

Without a deliverable address, a lead isn't something you can act on regardless of how accurate every other field is. This matters especially for mail-based outreach, where an address that's outdated or unverified produces a returned envelope and a wasted cost, not just a missed opportunity. A usable lead should reflect a real, checked address, not just whatever address happened to be on file with the court.

Which charge or offense category should a lead list?

Not just "criminal case," but the actual charge — DUI, a domestic violence or protective order matter, a drug or paraphernalia charge, a traffic or vehicle offense, trespass or theft, a weapons or assault charge, obstruction or evading, a sex offense, or a probable cause determination. The specific category determines both whether the case fits what you handle and how you should frame your outreach — a DUI letter and a domestic violence letter shouldn't read the same way.

Why does the filing date matter?

The date the case was actually filed tells you how fresh the lead is and how much time-sensitivity should shape your outreach. A lead that arrives days or weeks after filing has already lost meaningful value compared to one delivered the same night or the next business day — the filing date is what lets you judge that gap for yourself instead of trusting a vendor's word for it. Why fresh criminal case data matters explains the stakes.

Why does a lead need a case number?

A case number is what makes a lead verifiable rather than asserted. It lets you (or your staff) independently confirm the case exists, check its current status, and reference something concrete if you ever need to. A lead with no case number is a claim; a lead with one is a checkable fact. The same identifiers appear on the public docket described in what information attorneys can find in a criminal court record.

Court and county

Which court and county the case was filed in determines whether it's geographically relevant to your practice at all, and it's information you'll likely want on hand for the first conversation regardless — knowing the venue before you call is basic preparation, not an extra.

Why is representation status the highest-stakes field?

Whether the person already has an attorney of record is arguably the single highest-stakes field on this list — contacting someone who's already represented risks an avoidable, uncomfortable situation at best and a bar complaint at worst. A complete lead should reflect current representation status at time of delivery, not just status at the moment the underlying data was first collected. How to find unrepresented criminal defendants covers the check.

How do the fields work together?

Individually, none of these fields make a lead convert — that depends on outreach, timing, and fit that no data field alone captures. But a record missing any one of them is either not immediately actionable (no address), not verifiable (no case number), not properly targeted (no category or county), not appropriately timed (no filing date), or an outright liability (no representation status check). Before you buy, questions to ask before buying criminal defense leads puts this into a vendor conversation, and example leads show real records.

See exactly what fields a real referral includes — name, address, charge, filing date, case number, county, and representation status, every time.