01
Assistance from the moment of arrest
Intervention in the first hours, when what is decided shapes everything that follows: what is said, which safeguards are asserted, and how you arrive at the first hearing.
In an accusatorial system, what is not argued and proved at the hearing does not exist. The defence is built from the first hour: what is said, what is withheld, what evidence is secured, and how the request for pretrial detention is met. We take on the defence at every stage of Panamanian criminal proceedings.
The moment the defence comes in changes what can be done. The earlier, the more room there is.
Intervention in the first hours, when what is decided shapes everything that follows: what is said, which safeguards are asserted, and how you arrive at the first hearing.
Opposing requests for pretrial detention and proposing alternative measures before the guarantees judge. This is the hearing that determines whether the case is faced at liberty or in custody.
Scrutiny of the Public Prosecutor's conduct, applications for exculpatory enquiries, securing favourable evidence, and monitoring the investigation deadlines.
Opposition to the charge, preliminary objections, and exclusion of evidence obtained in breach of fundamental safeguards. What is not filtered out here reaches trial and weighs.
Theory of the case, examination and cross-examination, and closing submissions before the trial court. Preparation of defence witnesses and experts.
Technical review of expert reports: chain of custody, methodology, the expert's qualifications and the soundness of the conclusions. A forensic report is not an unquestionable truth.
Defence in economic investigations, where the file is documentary and the argument usually turns on the origin and traceability of funds.
Embezzlement, corruption of public officials and related offences. Ground where criminal and administrative law meet, and where knowing both changes the strategy.
Acting as private prosecutor, driving the investigation forward, and pursuing the civil claim arising from the offence on behalf of those who suffered the harm.
Panama has left behind the old written inquisitorial model and operates an accusatorial criminal justice system that is oral, public and adversarial. Whoever investigates does not judge, and whoever supervises the investigation does not deliver the verdict.
Leads the investigation and brings the charge. It is the opposing party throughout the investigation stage.
Ensures the investigation respects fundamental rights and rules on charges and pretrial measures. Does not deliver the verdict.
Separate from the guarantees judge. It knows only what is produced before it at the oral trial, and decides on that basis.
Produces the expert and forensic evidence in the case: post-mortems, expert opinions, laboratory analysis and assessments.
The structure of criminal courts, including the appellate courts that review first instance decisions.
For foreign nationals, criminal proceedings affect immigration status and may involve a ban on leaving the country.
Anyone who is detained must be brought before the guarantees judge within a short period. It is at that first hearing that the charge and any pretrial measure are decided. Arriving at that hearing without a defence lawyer is the worst possible way to start a case, and what is resolved there shapes everything that follows.
Contact a lawyer immediately. Anyone who is detained must be brought before the guarantees judge within a short period, and it is at that first hearing that the charge and any pretrial measure are decided.
Arriving at that hearing without a defence lawyer is the worst possible way to start a case.
The process has three stages: investigation, led by the Public Prosecutor's Office under the supervision of the guarantees judge; the intermediate stage, where the charge is refined and evidence is admitted; and the oral trial, before a court different from the one that supervised the investigation.
It is oral, public and adversarial, and what is not argued and proved at the hearing does not exist.
No. Pretrial detention is exceptional and must be justified before the guarantees judge on grounds of flight risk, risk of evidence being destroyed, or danger to the victim.
Less restrictive measures exist and their application is argued at the hearing. A prepared defence can change that decision.
Yes, and it is one of the grounds where cases are most often decided. An expert report can be challenged on chain of custody, on the method used, on the expert's qualifications, or on the conclusions drawn from the findings.
Doing so requires knowing how that report is produced from the inside, not merely reading it.
Proceedings are governed by Panamanian law regardless of nationality. They may involve measures such as a ban on leaving the country, and they affect immigration status.
Criminal defence and immigration position should be coordinated from the outset, because a decision on one front conditions the other.
In criminal matters time counts from the first hour. If there has been an arrest or a summons, that is the fastest channel.
The content of this page is general information about Panamanian law. It does not constitute legal advice and does not replace analysis of a specific case. Submitting the form does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship, which is formed solely by express agreement between the parties.