If you are reading this, you or someone close to you needs a criminal defence lawyer in Colombia: you are facing a criminal investigation and you know that time counts and that every decision matters.
What is at stake
A criminal investigation can compromise in weeks what took years to build: liberty, reputation, a position, an estate. The outcome depends on many factors, and the facts are decisive. What the defence does control is when it starts work and with what method. In the first days the Prosecution Service is still deciding what to do with your case. That is the window for the defence, and it closes without notice.
Who your criminal defence lawyer in Colombia is
Juan Antonio Matiz Estrategia Legal SAS is a boutique firm devoted exclusively to criminal defence. We are not a general practice that also does criminal work: we are criminal lawyers. The office is in Bogotá D.C. and the firm takes cases throughout the country. The defence is led by Juan Antonio Matiz Monroy, a graduate of Universidad de los Andes with a specialisation in Criminal Law from Universidad Sergio Arboleda, professional licence 294.746. His full background is on the firm’s page.
The method
Every defence the firm builds rests on a theory of the case with four planes. The factual theory fixes what happened and what can be proved, so that the prosecution’s version is not the only one on the table. The legal theory examines whether those facts fit the offence charged or whether the conduct falls outside it. The evidentiary theory reviews how each item of evidence was obtained and whether it can be excluded. The litigation strategy decides what to ask for, in which hearing and in what order. The four planes are worked together from the inquiry stage, not once the trial date is set.
How the work begins
The first act is a diagnosis. In the initial consultation we study with you the facts, the prosecution’s position and the evidence that already exists. There is no unnecessary jargon and there are no promises: there is an analysis.
On that diagnosis the theory of the case is built. Every procedural decision, from the first hearing onwards, is grounded in it. Nothing is improvised in the room.
Then comes the work in the hearings themselves: charging, pre-trial detention, the preparatory hearing and the oral trial. The defence is with you at each one, with methodical preparation and a single line of argument.
At the end of the consultation you take away four concrete things: which stage your case is at, what the real risks are, what routes exist and which act should come next.
Where the window is
Each stage of the proceeding under Law 906 of 2004 opens a different opportunity for the defence. At the inquiry stage it is possible to challenge how the evidence was gathered and to put in evidence of your own before the prosecution decides to charge. If you have already been arrested, what to do in the first hours —arrest in flagrante, a search, your rights and what the family should do— is set out in what to do if you are arrested: the first 36 hours. Being charged is not a conviction: it is the formal start of the proceeding, and the defence must already be prepared. The preparatory hearing decides which evidence goes to trial and which is excluded. The oral trial is the culmination, and what was done before weighs on it. If you want to understand the whole route, we explain it in the stages of criminal proceedings in Colombia.
Profiles with the greatest exposure
Public officials
An investigation for unlawful decision-making, bribery, extortion in office or misappropriation compromises the post and the career before any judicial decision. It usually runs alongside disciplinary and audit proceedings feeding off the same file. The defence works from the inquiry stage on the institutional context of the decision under challenge and on whether the conduct falls outside the offence at all. The aim is that the investigation should not drift by inertia towards a charge.
Healthcare professionals
An adverse outcome can turn into a complaint for negligent homicide or negligent injury. The risk is not only liberty: it is the licence to practise and a reputation built over years. In that inquiry the defence concentrates on the expert evidence, on compliance with the lex artis and on breaking the causal link. Much of that argument happens in the technical evidence, long before trial.
Economic crime and high-profile assets
Complex frauds, procedural fraud, extortion of business owners, and family or corporate disputes taken onto criminal ground. In these cases the complaint is often an instrument of pressure, and public exposure is immediate. The defence reconstructs the economic operation with financial and documentary analysis, and examines whether there is an offence at all or only a civil dispute. It also assesses from the outset the early-resolution routes that protect the estate.
Directors and employees of a company under investigation
In Colombia the legal person does not bear criminal liability: its directors, representatives or employees do, when the prosecution directs the investigation at those who decided or carried out. The risk there is twofold: the liberty of the person and the continuity of the company that depended on them. The defence works from the inquiry stage on who took each decision, with what information and under what duty. And it makes sure corporate evidence enters the proceeding with its legality under control.
Initial consultation and coverage
The initial consultation is the diagnosis described above. It has a price, which is deducted from the fee if you retain the firm within 30 days of the opinion. It can be held in person in Bogotá or remotely from anywhere in Colombia or abroad. Representation is coordinated before the courts where the proceeding is being conducted, anywhere in the country. If you are facing an investigation, the time to make the diagnosis is now.
Frequently asked questions
I received a summons but no one has charged me. Do I already need a lawyer?
Yes, it is worth taking advice before you attend. A summons to questioning or to an interview means the prosecution has already identified you, even if no charge has been brought. Whatever you say or hand over at that appointment goes into the file. The initial consultation exists precisely to decide how to appear.
Do you take cases where pre-trial detention has already been ordered, or where there is a first-instance conviction?
Yes. The firm takes cases at any stage of the proceeding. Where pre-trial detention has been ordered, the diagnosis assesses revocation or substitution. Where there is a first-instance conviction, it assesses the appeal, the grounds of nullity and the other routes available.
What does the initial consultation cost?
The initial consultation has a fixed price, which you are told before booking. That amount is deducted from the fee if you retain the firm within 30 days of the opinion. At the end you receive the diagnosis of your case, with no further commitment.
My case is not in Bogotá. Can you take it?
Yes. The firm’s office is in Bogotá, but representation is exercised before courts throughout the country. The initial consultation can be held remotely, and hearings are attended in person or virtually as the court directs.