We know from decades of aggressive client advocacy at the long-tenured Knoxville criminal defense firm of The Lanzon Firm that, while most people understandably appreciate the immediate downsides related to an arrest, they sometimes don’t fully grasp the longer-term adverse consequences that can attach. And that can be especially true in cases resulting in a criminal conviction.

A criminal record for an individual residing in Knox County or elsewhere in Tennessee can be a major impediment when it comes to finding a job. It can pose a high hurdle for someone seeking to retain a professional license, secure housing, join the military, enter a select school and receive educational funding, get a passport or take advantage of many other important opportunities.

As unfair as that might seem in any case, it can seem especially harsh for someone whose criminal case was dismissed. Many individuals, too, have charges dropped before a case is even commenced, with others being released without any charges being filed. Some matters are resolved outside trial through various diversion programs.

The point: In many instances, it is simply logical and just that a person who had a negative brush with the law should be able to legally erase public evidence of that encounter and not be permanently burdened by the stigma that a criminal record yields.

That is precisely what expungement seeks to do. We note on a relevant page of our website at The Lanzon Firm that “expungement is a formal request to remove a public criminal record.”

We have a deep well of experience guiding clients through the process, knowing intimately well how critically important securing that chance for a fresh start can be.

Persons interested in erasing negative public data should know — as we duly point out on our site — that expungement “is charge-specific, and not every conviction is eligible for expungement.”

A seasoned expungement attorney can fully discuss the process and parameters of this important legal tool and, when possible, help a client take fullest advantage of it.