I’m a Criminal Defense Attorney — Here’s How I Win Over Juries | Nicole Zagreda

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8 • 743 Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2026

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Nicole Zagreda is in the trenches every single day as a criminal defense attorney in Yonkers, New York. In this episode of Locked In with Ian Bick, she breaks down the true reality of representing offenders and navigating the complicated mechanics of the criminal justice system. _____________________________________________ IanBick #Lawyer #yonkers #Courtroom #TrueCrime #DefenseAttorney#courtroomdrama #TrueCrime _____________________________________________ Connect with Nicole Zagreda: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-zagreda-401620126 _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 The Reality of Being a Criminal Defense Attorney 00:54 Growing Up Between Yonkers and Dutchess County 02:13 My Strict Albanian Upbringing 04:06 How My Childhood Led Me to Law School 05:25 Why I Became a Public Defender 06:39 Struggling in School Before Becoming a Lawyer 07:55 Do Grades Matter for Lawyers and Law School? 08:50 What Law School Is Really Like 10:17 The Biggest Lessons I Learned in Law School 13:36 My First Steps Into the Legal World 15:17 Finding My Identity as a Lawyer 16:07 From Law School to Legal Aid Attorney 20:00 Learning Felony Defense at Legal Aid 24:10 How Defense Attorneys Earn Clients’ Trust 27:17 Winning My First Jury Trial 29:23 The Moral Dilemmas of Criminal Defense 31:50 Court of Public Opinion vs the Justice System 34:15 How Juries Decide Criminal Cases 38:40 The Risk of Letting Clients Testify in Court 41:12 Getting Emotionally Attached to Clients 44:07 Burnout in Public Defense Work 47:52 Leaving Legal Aid for Private Practice Law 49:54 The Business of Running a Law Firm 52:46 How Lawyers Build a Client Base 55:27 Advice for New Lawyers 58:09 Visiting Clients in Jail for the First Time 01:00:02 Technology and Evidence in Criminal Trials 01:03:13 What to Look for in a Criminal Defense Lawyer 01:04:31 Trial vs Plea Deal: The Gamble of Court 01:07:30 Judges, Bias, and Courtroom Politics 01:10:04 The Mental Toll of Defense Work 01:13:52 Advice for Future Attorneys Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You have to be so hyper vigilant in everything that you do in the way that you respond to the judge,
0:07.2	in the suits that you wear, in your eye contact with the jurors or with a witness.
0:12.4	Do you remember your first case that you had that went against your morals, but you still took it
0:16.5	on a professional basis?
0:18.0	I told him, if you get acquitted, I'll get your name tattooed.
0:21.1	And so I have his street name tattooed on the top of my foot.
0:24.8	Do you prefer to put your client on the stand or not?
0:27.0	Do not get frustrated.
0:28.8	Just be cool.
0:30.3	Do you remember your first time visiting a jail or prison
0:32.5	to see a client?
0:33.2	Nicole Zagreta is a criminal defense attorney
0:35.7	in Yonkers, New York,
0:37.0	and every day she's fighting to win cases for people accused of crimes.
0:40.6	In this episode, she reveals how the system actually works, what juries really respond to, and the strategies lawyers use to win.
0:51.2	So I grew up in Yonkers until I was probably like eight or nine years old, then moved upstate to Duchess County.
0:59.0	I stayed there until probably the end of college and then moved right back down to Yonkers.
1:06.7	I – it's not that I lie, but I typically leave out the Duchess County part because in my heart, I feel like I'm a true Yonkers girl. Hey, Duchess County Fair. Yeah, yeah, Dutchess County Fair. Yeah, that's actually, it was a really nice time. Yeah, yeah, I went the first time a couple years ago. Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, did you like it? Yeah, I liked it kind of better than the Big E. I mean, the Big E's cool, but it's just so crowded at the Big E.
1:30.9	Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, Dutchess County is cool. It's just, it's so much different. Like,
1:36.2	there's not, where I grew up specifically, like, there's nothing around. It takes you 25 minutes to
1:42.0	get to, you know, any store anywhere. And then the high
1:49.1	schools are kind of weird because they're so massive because there's not very many of them.
	...

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