It depends. Some people feel more secure in talking to people, meeting with people face to face as opposed to just reading what is on the computer. A lot of people come in and talk to me and they know they want to hire me right away. They read my reviews, they have read the testimonials, they have seen all the awards that I have achieved. Some people come and talk to me either first or last because they want to talk to other people. They want to see what other attorneys charge. The price is important to a lot of people. Many times people will come see me after talking to a few other attorneys and they like the way I talk with them. I don’t put a lot of pressure on them. They can see my accomplishments, they can see what I am able to do for them and they end up hiring me over other attorneys that they have talked to.
The problem with meeting with a lot of different attorneys is that many attorneys are known for being very high pressure and telling people they need to sign up with right away, that they are going to have great consequences or they are going to lose out on their rights or that they are going to be taken into custody if they don’t sign up right away. There are literally law firms out there that will flat out force people to come in to speak with them and force them to sign a contract. I have recently heard of one big law firm out here that literally told someone on the phone that they had to come down and do an in person consultation right away because their phone might be bugged.
The person didn’t want the government listening in on their conversations which is absolutely ridiculous especially considering it was a DUI case. There are certain lengths that certain law firms will go to in order to get you to sign on the dotted line and pay them money. I don’t need to use those high pressure tactics. My accomplishments speak for themselves but there are a lot of attorneys out there that they need the money and they need that next payment and they are willing to go to any means necessary in order to get it.
Is Hiring an Attorney For a DUI Case a Matter of Quality?
It is a matter of quality. Money is also a factor so people can’t always afford the absolute best attorney at $30,000. People have budgets and attorneys do cost a lot of money. Attempting to hire an attorney and saying, “Okay I want to have any attorney represent me who will charge $500 total” or “I want to be represented by the most expensive attorney that is going to give me the best representation”. A person really needs to do their research and not simply go off of who is listed at the top of a Google search. Being at the top of Google has nothing to do with experience. It has nothing to do with reputation. It has nothing to do with success. Being at the top of Google just means that you paid a search engine optimization company to get you there.
Research is the key, experience does matter and there is a reason why my clients get the beneficial plea agreement and get the cases dismissed and other attorneys do not to the same degree. Even today I was in court and I took over a case from another attorney that negotiated a regular DUI with one day in jail and $1,600 in fines and fees. Unfortunately the guy wasn’t able to pay his attorney and the attorney dropped him after taking about half of his money and the client called me up. Within a few days I was able to negotiate a plea agreement down to a reckless driving with no time in jail. No license suspension and just a $750 fee. He did not do his research, he found an attorney that really is not a true DUI defense attorney.
The guy was a jack of all trades, didn’t really know what he was doing. I imagine that within a short amount of time I was able to get a much better plea agreement and my client was all the better for it. Unfortunately, people need to do a little bit of research and go beyond the surface of just relying on what is on the person’s website and just expecting that someone is an excellent DUI attorney or an experienced DUI attorney simply because they say so on their website.
How Much is the Cost of an Attorney as Opposed to the Total Costs of My DUI Charge?
It is always possible to save money with a private attorney and if someone can afford a private attorney. I do recommend going with a private attorney over a public defender. There is not necessary a correlation that a low cost attorney is going to be horrible or that a high cost attorney is going to be fantastic. There are bad inexperienced attorneys that charge a lot of money. There are excellent attorneys that do not charge as much as the high cost attorneys. Obviously, people need to be concerned about their budget but the amount of money that is being charged does not necessarily correlate to how good or how experienced the attorney is.
