Comment by philwelch

It's not normal for Americans to just have a lawyer ahead of time. But then again it's also not normal for most Americans to routinely get themselves arrested at "protests". So if you're going to engage in activities that are likely to get you into legal trouble, you might find yourself a criminal defense attorney ahead of time. In particular, organized "protests" often have legal assistance from sympathetic lawyers.

It is possible to have an attorney on retainer though, either as a consequence of having hired that attorney in the past or as part of a subscription service.