FLORIDA DUI ATTORNEY

CHOOSING A FLORIDA DUI ATTORNEY

There are many ways to find and select a DUI Attorney. I am positive that shortly after your DUI arrest your mailbox was overflowing with letters, postcards, and booklets from DUI Lawyers offering you their service. All of these mailings  had the red colored "Advertisement" stamped on the outside. You might have even had friends, relatives, or coworkers suggest this lawyer or that lawyer. 

How do you find, interview, and choose the Attorney to use to fight your DUI charge? I have written this to try and help you, the consumer. It is my philosophy that a well informed consumer is the best consumer. It prevents unrealistic expectations and allows open and frank conversation between client and attorney, which is perhaps the most important part of any representation. I write this as a practicing Florida attorney, and yes a part of my practice involves representing people accused of Drunk Driving. However, this is not a sales pitch or a request to call me now. I am not offering a free consultation (all DUI lawyers offer this) nor am I going to brag about my Law Firm's combined years of experience, or about my victories, these techniques will be discussed later. I do not believe that my phone number, address, or any means of promoting my services are listed within this site. I am writing this as my opinion, and I hope that it helps you make an educated decision.

FINDING A DUI ATTORNEY

One of the best places to begin your search for a DUI Attorney is by a personal referral. Many people have been arrested and charged with DUI within their life. Many of these people keep their arrest and experience a  secret, some even if they beat their DUI or are acquitted. Many people however are open and discuss their experience. These discussions often involve opinions of the officer that did the DUI stop, investigation, and arrest. They talk about the process, the prosecutor, and the Judge. Their strongest opinions will probably be about their own lawyer.

 If you have friends, family, or business associates that know about your DUI arrest, ask them. Even if they have not experienced the nightmare you are going through, chances are they know someone who has. Find out the name of the lawyer and/or the Law Firm they used and their opinion of the lawyer. Even if they have a negative opinion, ask more questions:

• What disappointed you about the lawyer?
• What should the lawyer have done that he didn't do?
• Did he keep you informed about how the case was progressing?
• Did he seem to know what he was doing?
• If he didn't know something did he admit and tell you that he would find an answer and call you back?
• Did he in fact call you back?
• Did he promise you things at the initial interview that he did not produce?
• Did he intentionally delay the case until the entire fee was paid and then just plead you out or stopped returning calls?
• Did he seem to be known and/or respected by other lawyers and the Judge?
• Did the lawyer that you retained appear at your court hearings or did he send an inexperienced associate or another lawyer from a different law firm to stand in for him?"
• (Add any of your own questions here)

Please remember, that just because someone was not pleased with the lawyer they used, does not mean the lawyer is no good or bad. The dissatisfaction could be from the person's unrealistic expectation. It could be just buyers remorse, or any number of things. That is why it is so important to ask the follow up questions, "what exact dissatisfaction do you have?" However, if the same lawyers name or firm's name come up, and it is almost always negative, that should be a large warning sign. 

If the people you know do not have any names, or if you choose to not share your DUI arrest experience with others, look at the mailings you received. DO NOT BE IMPRESSED with the largest mailer or the most colorful one. That only shows which lawyer is willing to spend more on professional designers and printers. It has absolutely nothing to do with their experience or competence as a DUI Attorney.  The difference between the mailings, in my opinion is marginal. That is why as a Lawyer, I rarely use mailings. If I were to put all that I know about DUI Defense on paper, it would take more then the most recent 20 page "magazine" a recent client showed me they received in the mail. The permitted purpose of the mailers is to educate and inform people about their rights, provide information pertaining to their legal issue, and to have the Lawyers contact information and reference to experience and training, in case the consumer wants more information or is looking for a lawyer.That is why you will see, usually on the bottom of the mailer, these words," The hiring of an attorney is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask us to send you free written information about our qualifications and experience."Almost all the mailers will have the following information:

• 10 Day rule: You only have 10 days from the date of arrest to apply for an administrative hearing.
• That if you do not apply within those 10 days, then you give up the right to the administrative hearing and your license suspension will remain in place.
• Many include the mandatory punishments as well as the range of punishments you could receive if convicted. (mandatory jail, mandatory probation, etc. )
• Many lay out the possible DUI fines and other costs associated with a DUI conviction.
• A surprising many have that they were former prosecutors. ( More about this information later)
• Some have information about the combined experience of their lawyers. For example, "In excess of a decade combined experience". This is split between two people. (More about these claims and similar claims found on Web Sites, "Over 100 years of combined experience", later.)