How Should I Choose A Dui Attorney?
Waiting until there is a major problem will only make you more stressed out. Finding a DUI lawyer might feel strange if there is no problem yet, but you might suspect that it could be coming. If you do suspect, then you should find one with certain traits. Make sure that the attorney’s specialty is working with DUIs. Make sure he or she has an empathetic spirit, and also make sure that the cost is affordable.
You drove while drunk making you automatically guilty. This is not the right attitude to have. No one is saying you don’t have to pay for your mistake but you don’t want that mistake to haunt the rest of your life. Yes it’s true that DUI charges are somewhat cut and dry. You broke the law and you’ll have to pay for it. However, a good Washington DUI lawyer can properly assess your situation and hopefully get the sentence reduced or possibly convince the court to change it to a different, lesser charge.
A local dui lawyer is knowledgeable in the laws and system that offenders need to go through. They know the routes that need to be taken to see your case settled or even dismissed. If you were to try and go at it alone, you may not be able to make these types of arrangements. Take advantage of someone working on your behalf.
Why would you want to walk into the court room with a cheap DUI lawyer that cannot help you get out of the penalties you are facing? You certainly cannot face the courts and the judge alone without a lawyer, but it is not going to help much if you use an inexpensive and inexperienced DUI lawyer. This is not something can afford in any way, shape, or form.
To find the best one out there, you should give time and a lot of consideration in shopping for a malicious destruction of property claims lawyers near me. Don’t simply hire the first one who gives you his or her card. You can also ask around the area about who has the reputation of being a good defense attorney for such charges. Better yet, ask a friend or family member who was able to face the same problem and get out of it. The best may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and depending on your needs, the best may differ as well. This is why you should take time to consider who you should hire to defend you and represent you in court. But why do you need the best one?
Don’t just assume that a DUI lawyer who claims to have been practicing for twenty years has actually been handling cases like yours for that length of time. He probably hasn’t. He may be counting his ten years in the D.A.’s office, his five years putting together billable hours for a real estate firm, and his five years actually handling drunk driving cases. Even if he has been handling your type of case for a long time, how many times has he been to court? Experience matters when it comes to hiring an attorney, so make sure yours has some.
The number of people killed because of drunk drivers was just over 13,000 in 1996. Ten years later, the number was also just over 13,000. During this period, the states have passed varying laws designed to increase the punishment for drunk driving. The punishments often include high fines, loss of driving license and a term in jail. As the numbers show, however, the nastier penalties simply haven’t worked to reduce the number of fatalities.
You need a DUI lawyer who also practices as a criminal lawyer in Oakland. Driving drunk is breaking the law, but if you cause an accident, or injure innocent bystanders, you may be in a lot more trouble than first expected. You need a legal representative that can handle all charges brought against you.
In some states, a DUI comes with mandatory jail time and almost all states have fines that amount to thousands of dollars. Combine that with the fact that you also will have to hire an attorney to represent you, the spike that will be experienced in car insurance cost, and the time that you will probably have to invest in public service for your crime. Face it, driving drunk is simply not worth it. A few drinks are not worth a few thousand dollars and loss of respect. Therefore, if you want to drink, do it safely and legally.
In fact, only half of an attorney’s job is in the courtroom. The other half involved helping the client understand what is going on. That is why they call them “counselors”.