Going above and beyond her professional commitments, criminal defense attorney Jolene Maloney believes her clients’ needs extend far outside the courtroom. Her work regularly involves networking with community service providers to aid clients in their litigation processes.
The Boise, Idaho-based lawyer’s approach to defense is highly holistic, advocating for her clients at every step. Her unique approach, using her interdisciplinary skill set and excellent communication abilities, has seen Maloney establish herself as a go-to source of holistically centered effective legal representation across Idaho and elsewhere.
A holistic approach to criminal defense involves lawyers stepping well beyond the confines of the courtroom. It requires a broader perspective, tackling the limitations of exclusively courtroom-centered legal systems and their constraints.
Traditional courtroom-centered paths to criminal defense focus almost exclusively on legal proceedings in the nation’s courts of law. They’ve been an essential part of the criminal justice system for centuries. However, traditional defense methods have numerous drawbacks in many modern legal cases.
Their rigidity and limited scope can fail to encompass the complexities of today’s ever-evolving world. The result is often scant regard for individual circumstances, favoring a broadly one-size-fits-all approach. That may include overlooking a defendant’s family background, mental health, or social surroundings.
According to attorney Jolene Maloney, the benefits of taking a holistic approach to criminal defense are abundant and far-reaching. Furthermore, actively neglecting intricacies like family background, mental health, and social surroundings can have dire consequences on client outcomes in any number of cases.
The Idaho-based lawyer believes that attorneys exclusively favoring traditional courtroom-centered defense paths decrease their abilities to defend their clients most effectively. By contrast, her approach utilizes a complete method incorporating alternative defense strategies focused on achieving the best and most favorable outcome for each client’s needs.
That involves learning their backgrounds and treating them as real people, not just defendants. By understanding how economic and other factors can affect behavior and taking mental health into particular account, attorney Maloney focuses squarely on well-being and rehabilitation.
Far beyond the courtroom, Maloney works closely with therapists, social workers, and community organizations. Doing so promotes positive change among her clients and others in the community. By taking her holistic approach to law from the courtroom and into the community, her unique efforts have a positive ripple effect.
For example, her work alongside therapists, social workers, and community organizations seeks to tackle myriad associated matters. At the same time, her holistic legal defense techniques help her clients make positive, long-term changes in their private and family lives.
Her techniques include granting tailored guidance to increase clients’ chances of positive outcomes. When coupled with the necessary traditional legal strategies, the result is a simultaneous deeper understanding of clients’ needs across the board.
Maloney’s complete, holistic approach to criminal defense doesn’t only aim to bring about positive results. It also seeks to comprehensively address underlying issues alongside any necessary legal battles favoring lasting resolutions.
One of the biggest positives of successfully implementing holistic approaches to criminal defense is breaking past cycles. Social, psychological, and environmental factors are often central to people’s actions on both sides of the law.
By addressing such issues, legal professionals utilizing more holistic methods can actively benefit their clients’ needs, connecting them with appropriate resources in parallel. These resources may include referrals to counseling or rehab programs, to name just two.
Jolene Maloney believes a holistic approach is central to criminal defense’s successful, outcome-focused future. She regularly partakes in initiatives dedicated to increasing access to justice for marginalized communities. She strongly believes everyone deserves equal representation, regardless of socioeconomic status or background.
To facilitate this, the attorney regularly volunteers at legal clinics and mentors young lawyers, teaching them essential holistic legal defense techniques. An outspoken advocate for change within the legal profession, she has previously advocated for policy reforms, addressing issues such as unjust sentencing guidelines and unfair treatment within the justice system.