First Chair Launches State-Specific Criminal Defense Tool

New platform gives people facing criminal charges and their attorneys a defense strategy brief built on their state’s law, covering all 50 states and Washington

LAS VEGAS, NV, UNITED STATES, October 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — A Las Vegas-based legal technology company called First Chair has launched a platform that gives people facing criminal charges access to a defense strategy brief built on their state’s law. Users enter their state, the charges they face, and the facts of their situation. The platform reads that state’s criminal code and case law, then returns defense directions to consider and questions to ask a lawyer. The service is available at Firstchairdefense.com and covers all 50 states and Washington, DC.

The launch addresses a real gap in access to legal information. Most people who are arrested do not know what the prosecution is required to prove, what legal defenses may apply, or what questions they should be bringing to their attorney. First Chair gives those people a starting point grounded in actual law, not general information. Every citation in the platform links directly to its source and shows whether it has been checked, so users can verify what they are reading.

The platform is built for more than one kind of user. People who have been arrested can use it to understand their situation before or alongside meeting with a lawyer. Family members and friends of someone who has been arrested can use it to make sense of the charges and what comes next. Criminal defense attorneys and public defenders can use it to do a fast first review of a new file, covering the legal elements of each charge, relevant case law, and suppression issues, before doing deeper work on the case. First Chair serves all of these users across the United States.

The tools available through First Chair span the full arc of a criminal case, from arrest through sentencing. The platform includes a suppression checklist to help identify whether evidence may have been gathered improperly, deadline tracking so important dates are not missed, and custody credit math to account for time already served. Users can also access a record of a judge’s past rulings, which can be useful context when preparing for hearings. For work closer to court dates, the platform supports court preparation, document drafting, and case export. All of these tools sit within a single platform rather than across multiple disconnected services.

For attorneys, First Chair now connects directly with Clio, a practice management system that many defense lawyers and public defenders already use. When an attorney runs a review on a new file in First Chair, the results land inside Clio, where the attorney already does the rest of their work. This means the platform fits into an existing workflow rather than requiring attorneys to manage yet another separate system. The Clio integration is part of the current launch and is available to attorneys now.

First Chair also works in Spanish, which expands access for Spanish-speaking clients and their families who are navigating the criminal justice system. Given that criminal cases involve specific legal language that is hard to follow even in a first language, offering the platform in Spanish addresses a practical need for a significant portion of the population facing charges across the United States.

“Most people facing a criminal charge have no idea what the state has to prove or what to ask their lawyer. First Chair shows them their case the way a defense attorney sees it, for the cost of a dinner out. Even more, defense attorneys don’t need another platform to babysit. First Chair does the first pass on a new file, the elements, the case law and the suppression issues, and it lands right inside Clio, where they already work.” — David Wise, J.D., D.M., MBA, Founder

A Google Play app is currently in testing and will be available soon. An Apple App Store version is in process. Once released, the apps will extend access to the platform for users who primarily work from a phone, which is common among people who have recently been arrested and may not have ready access to a computer.

The broader goal of First Chair is to close the information gap in criminal defense. Understanding what a charge actually requires the state to prove, what defenses exist under a specific state’s law, and what to ask an attorney are not small advantages. They are the kinds of things that shape how a person moves through the system. By making that information available and grounding it in real, verifiable law, First Chair puts people on more equal footing from the earliest stages of a case.

**About First Chair**

First Chair is a Las Vegas, Nevada-based legal technology platform focused on criminal defense. The platform provides state-specific defense strategy briefs drawn from each state’s criminal code and case law, covering all 50 states and Washington, DC, with every citation linked to its source. First Chair serves people who have been arrested, their family members and friends, and criminal defense attorneys and public defenders across the United States. The platform includes tools covering the full range of a criminal case, from arrest through sentencing, integrates with Clio for attorneys, and is available in both English and Spanish. More information is available at Firstchairdefense.com.

**Contact:**

First Chair
Firstchairdefense.com
+1 (725) 377-8280
Las Vegas, NV

David
First Chair
+ +18186757219

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