Those are very impressive stats for Charisma, Persuasion, Intelligence, and Law. You should do very well in court. But besides having a lawyer with really good stats (in this case, yourself), you also need a good judge and good jury to get the optimal outcome, if you're facing a huge amount of criminal charges. Having a Sleeper judge presiding over the case is a MUST. If I recall correctly, they prevent any witnesses from testifying against you and they grant leniency in sentencing if somehow you are found guilty. As for the jury being on your side, there are 2 variables for that, mainly. 1 is how Liberal or Conservative the people in the country are. The more Liberal the populace is, the more favorable the jury will be, while a Conservative populace will be quite harsh on you if they end up as the jury. Another factor is something that only the expensive $5,000 lawyer can do... he can tilt the jury in your favor. He has that ability. That doesn't happen if you defend yourself. This is basically a reward for players who spend the money on the expensive lawyer (spending that much money ought to help you out more than just a little, after all... and it does). That being said, the expensive lawyer isn't perfect. Your character probably has better stats as far as arguing in court is concerned (Charisma+Persuasion+Intelligence+Law), plus the expensive lawyer runs the risk of having his arch-nemesis super-prosecutor show up... which is very very bad. So spending the money on an expensive lawyer is actually a bit like gambling, it might not always work out in your favor, except, unlike gambling, it USUALLY does.