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What to Consider When Hiring a DUI Lawyer

Even if you are confident with your case and is a clear cut DUI charge, you should consider getting legal representation. They also entail such as fines, potential imprisonment and other potential consequences like license suspension, high insurance rates or even a job loss. DUI is criminalized in the majority of states, and a defendant accused of a crime has a right to have an attorney. While you may wish to request an attorney at no cost, the court puts you through an appointment of a PD. Most of these lawyers do their best to defend the accused but they do it with a large number of cases and minimal resources. This means that a public defender may not be in a position to construct a defence similar to that of a private lawyer. Therefore, it is advisable to seek the services of a DUI attorney of your preference since this will impact a lot on the final results.

It becomes quite hard when deciding who is the right counsel for you. As simple as it may sound, starting with a Google search is advisable only at the first stage. Web searches shall lead to numerous results which are normally paid ads thus may not represent the skills and competence of a lawyer or their ability to handle your case. You may get valuable information about this kind of lawyer from friends or relatives who have hired a DUI lawyer but the ideal lawyer that they employed may not be the best lawyer for you. Each case is unique. Below are certain tips which can assist you to make informed research and comparisons of the attorneys.

You should consider hiring an attorney who specialises in defending individuals who have charges comparable to your case. For instance, there might have been an accident when you were charged with DUI and the victim was either killed or seriously injured; you will need an attorney with previous experience in accident DUI cases. If the DUI you face is related to drugs as opposed to alcohol then it will be useful to find a lawyer who can effectively represent you on both the DUI charge and any complementary charges of drug endangerment. Some of the attorneys may also be board certified in certain areas or may be members of certain professional associations. It may be possible they have won some accolades or some other formal recognition of their legal abilities.

There are DUI lawyers who have been prosecutors for some time before they started practicing in their own firm. It is wrong to conclude that you will not be ‘‘vigorously represented’’ as a defendant if your attorney has once worked on the other side. On the contrary, the prior experience as a prosecutor can turn into a considerable strength. Having been on the other side before the bench as a prosecutor, a defense attorney may notice things a prosecutor would do when charging a client. This in turn can assist them in preparing for the possible counter plans of their opponents to combat them.

Your attorney ought to be conversant with the practices in the court in which the case is to be presided. This can mean a lot because crucial rules differ depending on the court a person has to deal with. A lawyer who practices locally also may have contact information for the individual district attorneys and how they proceed. They may know what to expect in a plea offer, and they may have some concept of how much that prosecutor will be willing to negotiate. Also, the police officer who pulled over a driver can play an active role in a DUI case, as well as other witnesses like passengers. A local attorney may have met some of these officers in other cases and may know whether or not the officer is suitable for having his credibility impeached.

As a rule, it is advised to work with an attorney who has no or mild prior disciplinary record. Details about an attorney’s professional background can be obtained by simply searching for the name on the site of the state bar association in the attorney’s jurisdiction. You may wish to look for specifics of the type of discipline in order to get a feel of the circumstances that precipitated the disposition. Not all violations are as severe as the others. You may not want to omit an attorney from a list of candidates because he/she has a petty offense on record but the attorney is currently in good standing.

On the other hand, severe violations record should be a discouraging factor regardless the positive outcomes of the attorney. It would do you no good for your attorney to unwittingly blow a potentially strong defense strategy simply because of a careless error.

In many cases, a DUI lawyer will list their greatest victories on their own website or a blog that they maintain for this purpose. Although every case is unique, each client shouldn’t expect to achieve the same results as the previous client who came to you for help. For that matter, a history of dismissals, acquittals, and reduced charges for people with circumstances fairly akin to yours can also be favorable. You may also learn about the circumstances in which an attorney works most effectively if most of the best outcomes are the cases that are similar to one another.

In general, most of the DUI lawyers are willing to do consultations with potential clients at a small fee or freely and this is often with no contractual obligation. After giving some basic information about your case, you can request a consultation either by phone or via the Web. The consultation makes the client and the attorney determine whether they want to work together or not. Do not rush to hire an attorney you came across with impressive credentials and records on your case type. However, you should ensure that you consult a lawyer that you trust to understand you and with whom you find it easy to relate. You should notice that your lawyer is interested in your case and is not just another number on the case list. In an ideal world, one should arrange meetings with several lawyers and decide who should represent one.

Preparing a list of questions to ask during the consultation can go a long way towards deciding whether an attorney is right for you. For instance, you may wish to know about the probabilities of the various outcomes as they see them in your matter. It is not necessary that we get a very accurate answer, but a general idea can help set our expectations. A positive response may be comforting, however, when an attorney promises results or boasts he or she is better than all the others, proceed with caution. They may be overpromising. Also, you have to pay attention to how the attorney elaborates on your case assessment. They should also be capable of expressing their reasoning in a manner that will be easily understood by a person without formal legal training.

Another area that must be discussed during the consultation include fees. There are those DUI lawyers that will work under an hourly based system while others will require a flat fee for the whole process. Also, if you have a tight budget, it may be possible to negotiate for payment instalments. As a rule, an attorney will request that a client puts down a retainer fee that is an initial deposit. Any of the costs that are less than the retainer amount may not be refunded but the remaining balance of the retainer fee may be returned back to the client. Generally any fee arrangement that is arrived at should be spelled out in the agreement that you undertake the representation with very clear terms on what is expected of you.

The Lawyergist Lawyer Directory was created to help you easily find, compare and communicate with attorneys in your town, parish, or state who best meet your situation. Begin browsing through our list of DUI lawyers in your state today.