Anyone who is dealing with the court system especially on a DUI case needs to seriously consider hiring an attorney or at the very least do a free consultation. I offer free consultations, not everyone hires me. There are a lot of people that I talk to that I know simply can’t afford to hire a private attorney but they need some answers and I am happy to provide them answers. When you’re dealing with the first time DUI there are a couple of ways that things can go. It is possible to negotiate a DUI down to something like wet reckless driving. It is possible to get the case dismissed. It is possible to have the DUI set up so that it is the minimum sentence and maybe then get a person credit for the time that they spent in custody so that they don’t have to do any additional days in jail.
I have seen the court treat people representing themselves different than people represented by an attorney and this used to be true in Scottsdale where 2 people with the exact same charges and even with the exact same blood test results, would have 2 completely different sentences based upon them repressing themselves or the other person being represented by a private attorney. Sometimes you could watch them actually take place in front of you where one person is unrepresented and goes in front of the judge and would get maybe 9 days in jail, where the next person being represented by a private attorney who knows what they are doing would go up there and maybe get a 2 days jail sentence on the same exact same charges and on the exact same blood alcohol content. So having an attorney who knows what they are doing, who knows how the law works and knows all the provisions in the law is extremely important if a person wants to save themselves money and jail time and potentially save themselves from having a conviction on their record.
How Much Time Should I Take To Decide About An Attorney?
The majority of the people that I meet with after they spend about 45 minutes with me, they decide right away to sign up. There are some people that want to think about it and some people want to go and talk with other attorneys. That’s fine; I don’t put any pressure on anyone. If they want to take the contract home with them and think about it, that’s perfectly fine. People need to be secure; we are talking about a lot of money here. People need to know that they have the right attorney not only for the case, but the right attorney for themselves. There are some attorneys that are excellent attorneys but maybe there is a personality issue there between the client and the attorney. I have had clients call me to say they are not happy with their attorney and that they wanted to hire me and after finding out who the attorney is.
I would hold that in high regard and I try to convince the client that they should stick with the attorney they have. They have already paid a lot of money, the attorney is an excellent attorney and maybe there is just a personal issue. Maybe they just need to work on that but most clients do sign up with me after meeting with me and after seeing all my awards and after i walk them through the system. I treat people different than the way a lot of other attorneys do. I treat my clients with respect. I do not try to scare them and provide as much information as possible and not hide the ball in hopes that you would then hire me so then I can help you after you have paid me. I try to help people when they first come in to meet with me whether they are going to hire me or not.
What Are The Factors That Can Help Me To Retain The Best Possible Attorney?
It is just doing research. If you cannot afford the best attorney and all you can afford is a low cost attorney. It’s probably still worth it to hire the private attorney and not try and go at it alone and not try to go at it lets say with a public defender. Some public defenders are very good; the problem is the nature of the beast. The way the system is set up, public defenders do not get a lot of money to represent someone and they usually get paid the same amount whether the public defender simply does nothing or gets a plea down from the prosecutor and tells the person to take it or whether they put in hundreds of hours in that case. The public defender is likely getting paid the same amount of money. So the nature of the beast is that the public defender tends to just recommend the plea agreement.
That is not to say that there are not some true believer public defenders that fight very hard for their clients but just the way the system is set up, it does not really promote fighting hard for the clients and putting a lot of time and effort into representing them. It is all about research; it is not necessarily about price. There are some excellent high priced attorneys but there are also some very bad ones that I would never recommend to anyone. Despite that, they charge a lot of money and that they claim to be exceptional attorneys. It is all about finding the right attorney for the right price based on the budget and based on the attorney’s experience and accomplishments.