Criminal Defense SEO: The Arraignment Page Every Los Angeles Firm Should Have (and Almost None Do)

Short answer: After an arrest in Los Angeles, the person (or their family) has a date and a courthouse on a piece of paper and searches exactly that: "arraignment Van Nuys courthouse what happens". A criminal defense firm that publishes one page per courthouse answering that question, with the procedure, the timing rule, the Penal Code section 977 point about appearing through counsel on misdemeanors, and what to bring, is on the screen at the moment the decision to hire is made. The "Criminal Defense" overview page is not.

Why is arraignment the page?

Because it is the first scheduled event and the first thing people do not understand. Everything before it (the arrest, the booking, the release) has already happened. Everything after it (pretrial, motions, trial) is too far away to search for. The arraignment date is on the citation or the release paperwork with the courthouse name, and that name goes straight into the search box.

The competition for these queries is weak. The courts' own pages describe the building, not the process. The directories have generic "what is an arraignment" content with no courthouse. A specific page wins quickly.

Which courthouses?

Criminal matters in Los Angeles County are arraigned at a set of courthouses depending on where the arrest happened and whether the charge is a misdemeanor or a felony. The ones that generate searches:

One page each for the courthouses the firm actually appears at. A firm in Glendale should write Glendale, Burbank, Van Nuys, Pasadena and Foltz. Not all of them.

What does the page say?

In order, because the order is the reader's order of questions:

1. What an arraignment is, in two sentences. The charges are read, a plea is entered, and the court addresses release conditions and the next date. Usually fifteen minutes in the courtroom after a wait that can be hours.
2. The timing rule. A person held in custody must be arraigned within 48 hours of arrest, excluding weekends and court holidays (Penal Code section 825). A person released with a citation has the date on the citation, often weeks out.
3. Whether the person has to be there. On most misdemeanors, a defendant can appear through their attorney under Penal Code section 977(a) and need not attend personally; on felonies, and on misdemeanors involving domestic violence and certain other charges, personal appearance is required. This is the single most-searched question and the one that most convinces a family to hire.
4. Release. Own recognizance, bail, and the county's pre-arraignment release protocols in effect since October 2023, in plain language, without predicting the outcome.
5. What to bring and where to go. The department number is on the paperwork; the courthouse page says which entrance, how early to arrive, where to park, and that phones must be silenced.
6. What happens next. The pretrial date, discovery, and what the firm does between now and then.
7. Who from the firm goes. Name, bar number, profile.

Nine hundred to thirteen hundred words. Dated. With the statutes linked to the state's official code site.

Which sentences get quoted?

The ones that state a rule with a number. "A defendant in custody must be arraigned within 48 hours, not counting weekends and holidays." "On most misdemeanors your attorney can appear for you under Penal Code section 977." These sentences appear in Google's answer boxes and, increasingly, in AI answers, with the firm's name next to them. Write them plainly and put them near the top of their sections.

What does not work?

• "Aggressive defense. Former prosecutor. Call now." Nothing in it answers the question on the paper.
• A single "Arraignment" page with no courthouse. Beats nothing, loses to the first firm that writes ten specific ones.
• Promising outcomes. "We get charges dropped" is a Rule 7.1 problem and reads as such to the person deciding whether to trust the firm.
• DUI-only content on a general defense practice. DUI is one page set; domestic violence, drug, theft and assault each need their own arraignment context.

Where does this go in the site?

Under the criminal defense practice page, which links to each courthouse page and to the charge-specific pages. The courthouse pages link back to the charges. The content strategy service writes the set, and the free visibility check shows which courthouse queries the firm ranks for now and which firms hold them.