5 Best Criminal Defense Lawyers in Johannesburg (2026)

Mukwani Attorneys is a Rosebank-based firm covering estate, divorce, civil, family, commercial, labour and property law, plus personal injury claims and general litigation. Google lists the firm under criminal justice services, but its own site copy is built almost entirely around civil and family matters rather than criminal defense. The team describes itself around honesty, integrity and promptness, and the firm has been operating long enough to have handled repeat matters for the same clients years apart.

BDK Attorneys is a Sandton firm based in Morningside that describes itself, in its own metadata, as specialising in criminal and civil law, which makes it the clearest match for the actual search intent on this page. Its public site content is thin (mostly a staff blog), so most of what's known about the day-to-day work comes from client reviews rather than marketing copy. Several reviews name specific attorneys and directors directly, suggesting a firm of some size with multiple people handling files.

Ndungu Attorneys Inc, based in Kensington, describes itself as offering litigation in the Magistrate's Court and High Court, alongside labour law, family law and immigration and refugee law. Nothing in its own site copy mentions criminal defense specifically. Reviews span several years and are generally warm, calling the team honest and dedicated, though the firm's public web presence is sparse beyond a basic services list.

State Attorney Johannesburg is the Office of the State Attorney, the government body that represents the state and state departments in legal matters, not a private law firm you can hire for your own defense. It has no website and is unclaimed on Google, and its reviews read like a public-service office rather than a legal practice: comments about counter service, document processing and general helpfulness rather than case outcomes. We're including it because it ranks in search under lawyer categories and readers deserve to know exactly what it is before calling.

Michael Krawitz & Co is a Dunkeld West firm describing itself as offering specialist attorney services across South African law, with its site copy emphasizing a track record in litigation. Reviews consistently name attorney Graeme Krawitz directly and describe wins that included costs awarded, plus a level of personal attention, office comfort and responsiveness that smaller firms can sometimes offer more easily than larger ones. Nothing in the available material specifically confirms criminal defense as part of the caseload.