How to Find the Best DUI Lawyer for Your Case
This is the Secret, Simple Technique to Selecting the Best DUI Attorney That Bad Lawyers Do Not Want You to Know.
Here are the two most important tips when considering how to find the best DUI Lawyer for your case in Arizona. Every Lawyer claims to be the best. Even the worst Lawyer in the state will claim on their website to be the best. Some will flat-out lie about their experience, accomplishments, and successes in court. The horrible Lawyers have no problems with lying if it gets them money.
How To Ensure You Find a Good DUI Attorney
Some Lawyers will hire a company to write them glowing testimonials, will pay for reviews, and will spend thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, to make sure you see their advertisement and not see all their unsatisfied previous clients and horrible reviews. These Lawyers rely on you not being willing to spend the time to do the research yourself, and get distracted with their fancy advertisements and proven buzzwords.
Some DUI Lawyers claim to be the best, but you discover they have never gone to trial and have never written or argued a substantive motion to help their clients. They are only interested in getting your money, feeding you lies, and getting rid of you. Most won’t even respond to your communication after you have been Sentenced, when you really come to realize that they have set you up for problems that you were never notified of.
So here is the absolutely best way to figure out who is truly the best person to represent you on your DUI case. There are only two websites you need to look at, neither of which is the Attorney’s law firm website. These two websites are also extremely easy to use and free.
The trick is to ignore all the hype. Ignore the Attorney website’s claims that they are the best. Ignore the claims of success. Ignore the awards. Disregard statements like “I’ll Fight For You” and “I’m a Bulldog in Court.” Instead, look at the facts—the facts that they, themselves, provide, at the risk of losing their law license if they make an incorrect statement. Ignore the hype and look at the plain facts.
Here is the two-step process on how to choose a DUI Lawyer to ensure that the expert you are thinking about hiring is the absolute best DUI Defense Lawyer for you and your case:
Step 1: Go to AVvo.com
AVvo.com has the best, and most user-friendly way to find a DUI Lawyer. Search for a DUI Lawyer in the city your case is in, and click on some of the profiles. The most important place to look is the Pie Chart. It looks like this:
This shows you how much of an Attorney’s legal practice is devoted to DUI Defense Representation. It is also a good idea to see how long the Lawyer has been practicing law, how many cases they have defended, their rating, their testimonials, and what they say about themselves, but the most important aspect is their Pie Chart.
If it is at least a 75% focus on DUI Defense, that is a good thing. That means that they are devoting most of their time and focus of their legal representation to DUI Defense Representation. The smaller the “DUI” pie slice, the less experience and focus the Lawyer has on Driving Under the Influence Defense. The more pie slices – the more areas of the law they practice – take them away from being an experienced DUI Defense Lawyer.
The best DUI Lawyer is the one with the biggest DUI slice of the pie chart. The worst one has no DUI slice. It is incredible how many Lawyers will claim on their website that they are the best DUI Lawyer, but don’t even mention defending DUI cases on their AVvo.com Pie Chart. That is a huge red flag.
Keep in mind that “Criminal Defense” is definitely not the same as “DUI Defense” Representation. DUI Defense is a completely separate and extremely specific practice of law, while “Criminal Defense” covers hundreds of other criminal matters.
Also, it is incredibly important to note that the Attorneys themselves fill out their own pie chart on AVvo.com. This isn’t AVvo.com or some representative that does it for them. The Lawyer fills out how much of their representation is devoted to DUI Defense or any other practice of the law.
If that Lawyer wanted to have numerous slices of the pie—all different types of legal representation—they could. They put in the areas of law that they practice and the percentage of their practice devoted to those areas, which is represented as pie slices.
Step 2: Go to the Arizona State Bar website
Now, Step 2 is very similar, but here is where you can see if they are truly being honest in Step 1 and if the Lawyer has a problematic past. Step 2 is where the Attorney is going to be super honest. If they are not incredibly transparent, they can get in a lot of trouble and possibly lose their license to practice law.
Step 2 is the ultimate check on what field of law the Attorney really practices and whether they have violated Ethical Rules or Rules of Professional Conduct when representing a client. Every DUI Defense Attorney in Arizona must be a member of the Arizona State Bar. They are required to be an active member to practice law in the state of Arizona. As a member, they will also list the type of legal services they offer.
Do an easy search on the Arizona State Bar website here: https://www.azbar.org/for-legal-professionals/practice-tools-management/member-directory/. Search the Lawyer’s name you are considering, and look specifically at their “Areas of Law.” These are the types of law they focus their legal practice on. The Attorney, themself, is the only person that fills out this information.
If the “Areas of Law” only says DUI, fantastic. That is great news and is a solid consideration for representation in your DUI case in Arizona. If that Lawyer has under their “Areas of Law” DUI, Criminal Law, Divorce, Tax Law, etc., that is likely not someone you want to hire.
They are a “Jack-of-All-Trades” Lawyer. They will take on ANY case as long as you are willing to give them money. They will say they are the best DUI Lawyer, but if they were to have called them for Divorce representation, they would claim they are the best Divorce Lawyer.
These types of Lawyers are usually the worst Lawyers to hire since they don’t focus their concentration on the area of law you are looking for. They are only interested in your money and not in providing you with great representation. You can choose to go with whichever Lawyer you want, but it would be a really good idea to do some very simple and easy research first.
A great Lawyer is not defined by how much or little they charge. Some Attorneys who charge a lot of money are horrible, but pretend they are prestigious because they charge a lot. Some Attorneys who charge less than average are not bad Lawyers. They may have their reasons for offering their legal services for a less-than-average price.
It is unbelievable how many people show up to court with a Lawyer that the legal community knows is a horrible Attorney, knowing that the only way they got that client was through effective advertising and lying. Often we can see that they screwed their client or handled something incorrectly, but we are unable to say something due to ethical rules concerning talking to already-represented clients.
How To Find the Best DUI Lawyer in Arizona
The absolute best way to protect yourself from getting a horrible Lawyer for your DUI case in Arizona is to follow these very simple and effective steps. This tip also works for nearly every other practice of law and every other type of Lawyer you are seeking. You don’t want a Divorce Lawyer handling your DUI case any more than you want a DUI Attorney handling your Divorce case.
The Law Offices of Brian D Sloan solely focuses on and Specializes in DUI Defense Representation, having personally defended more DUI cases than nearly any other Lawyer in the entire state of Arizona.
Here is Attorney Brian Sloan’s AVvo.com profile: https://www.avvo.com/attorneys/authorized/85004-az-brian-sloan-417346
Here is Attorney Brian Sloan’s State Bar profile: https://www.azbar.org/for-Lawyers/practice-tools-management/member-directory/?m=brian-sloan-152685
The Law Offices of Brian D. Sloan encourages you to do your research. Something you will likely never hear from any other Lawyer claiming they do DUI Defense. If you want to truly hire the best Lawyer for your DUI case, follow these simple yet highly effective steps. Attorney Brian Sloan defends DUI cases in urban Maricopa County City, Town, and Justice Courts, including:
Ahwatukee / Agua Fria / Arcadia Biltmore / Avondale / Buckeye / Chandler / Country Meadows / Desert Ridge / Dreamy Draw / Downtown / East Mesa / El Centro / Encanto / Gilbert / Glendale / Goodyear / Guadalupe / Highland / Kyrene / Litchfield Park / Maryvale / McDowell Mountain / Mesa / Moon Valley / North Mesa / Peoria / Phoenix / Queen Creek / San Marcos / San Tan / South Mountain / Scottsdale / Tempe / University Lakes / West McDowell / West Mesa / White Tank
While this article is meant to be informative, it is only an Opinion piece. It has not been approved by the State Bar of Arizona.