5 Ways To Find The Right DUI Attorney

October 6, 2012 | Filed under: Miscellaneous | Posted by: Cherrell Tarantino

A DUI conviction can seriously hinder your daily life. You will receive large fines, and you might have to deal with a suspended license and even jail time. In order to reduce the likelihood of dealing with the maximum penalty for your crime, it is important to retain a highly skilled DUI attorney. You do not want to trust your fate to just anyone, so rather than flipping through the Yellow Pages and picking someone randomly, you should utilize the following five tips.

How to Find the Right DUI Attorney

1) Legal Websites – There are several legal websites that not only provide a list of DUI lawyers in each specific area, but also provide a ranking of each attorney based on their overall win to loss ratio. These websites are a great resource for finding lawyers, but make sure that you do not hire someone simply based on their ranking on a legal website.

2) Referrals – Ask people to refer you to a good DUI attorney. With over 1.5 million DUI convictions occurring in the U.S. every year, the odds are high that you know someone who has personal experience with a DUI lawyer. Do not be afraid to ask specific questions to help you determine which lawyers you would like to contact and which ones you should avoid.

3) Client Reviews – Just like with everything else, people can and do post reviews about their experiences with DUI attorneys. Although all reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt, it is important to analyze them to look for both positive and negative trends. If someone complains that their lawyer did not get them off the hook for a DUI charge, you need to realize that even the best lawyer in the world cannot refute some forms of evidence, and this does not automatically mean the lawyer is not a good one. On the other hand, if several reviews mention that the lawyer always showed up late, then that is not someone who you should work with.

4) DUI Case Specialists – Most attorneys specialize in something, and you definitely want to look for an attorney whose main focus is on DUI cases. Some lawyers have a list of specialties that is really long, and you need to consider the fact that this means they might not actually have a lot of experience working on DUI cases. You can ensure that you select an attorney who has the proper amount of DUI experience by weeding out those who make it clear on their websites that they actually have no true specialty.

5) Conduct an Interview – Before you decide to retain an attorney, you should meet with them and ask them any pertinent questions that you have in mind. If they fail to properly answer your questions, then you should move onto the next attorney on your list.

Once you select an attorney, they will begin preparing your case. The only way for them to truly help you is for you to be honest with them, so make sure that you do not hide any of the facts of the case. By being upfront, your attorney will not be blindsided by any of the evidence that the prosecutors use, and they will be better equipped to counter all of the arguments that are made against you.

Anthony Joseph is a researcher/freelance writer, and is a contributing author for the Law Office of Milligan, Beswick, Levine & Knox. If you’re in need of a dui lawyer in San Bernardino, they’re above the competition. They combine their experience and skill inside the courtroom, to make your case go as smooth as possible. Together, they have more than 140 years of criminal law experience.

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Posted by Cherrell Tarantino on October 6, 2012. Filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry