Top 5 Requirements for Your DUI Attorney

Getting charged with a Driving Under the Influence or Driving While Impaired is scary.  You want to make sure your attorney is going to get you the best possible outcome.  So the question remains: How do I know that my attorney is a good DUI attorney?  Well, here are five things to look for in an attorney to make sure you are making the best choice.

1. Courtroom Experience

You are going to have to go to court in 99% of DUIs/DWIs.  Whether the case is a slam dunk, triable, or anywhere in between, the matter is going to be resolved at court and not before.  The best way to make sure that it is resolved in your favor is to have an attorney that spends his days in the courtroom.  A good indicator is to look for someone who was a prior prosecutor or public defender.  Those attorneys start off their careers spending 4 or 5 days in court with 30 cases a day.  For instance, I was a prosecutor in Anne Arundel County for the beginning of my career.  Because of that, I got know the judges, prosecutors, the officers, and even the court clerks.  This greatly aids me in my ability to maneuver the courtroom because I know which judges like specific legal arguments, which judges are best for trial or for pleas, and which prosecutors know what they are doing.  At the end of the day, my job, like any other attorney, is to get you the best possible outcome.  Having courtroom experience greatly aids in that.

2. Technical Knowledge

A typical DUI/DWI follows a loose guideline: Phase One - Vehicle in Motion, Phase Two - Personal Contact, and Phase Three - Pre-Arrest Screening, then lastly the arrest and the breath/blood collection.  I didn't make up those terms, those are straight from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ("NHTSA") manual which teaches officers how to perform DUI/DWI investigations.  I found those right out of my NHTSA manuals dating from 2008 to 2023.  Each manual has its updates and new information that helps officers conduct standardized arrests.  But it does more than that.  The NHTSA manuals give attorneys ammunition to cross examine the officers because they are to follow specific instructions.  Any deviation from that is an opportunity for your attorney to catch the officer in a screw up.

So when I indicated that your attorney needs technical knowledge, that means that he should not only have his own copies of the NHTSA manuals, but know them better than the officer.  For instance, I am NHTSA certified just like the officers who will conduct your DUI/DWI arrests and I make sure to have the most up to date material so that I am better prepared to defend against a faulty investigation.

3. Open Communication

Communication with your attorney is vital to a successful case.  The main reason being is that I wasn't there!  I don't know what happened until I get evidence from the State called Discovery, but even then that is only from the point of view of the officer.  In order to properly defend a DUI/DWI, the attorney needs to hear it from the client about what happened out there.  So when you are meeting with your attorney, make sure your attorney asks you, "Hey, tell me what happened."  Then the attorney should be asking you questions about the details of the encounter.  A good DUI/DWI attorney will know to look for little things in your recap of events and ask questions about that.  Of course, the attorney needs to be able to put it together for you in court, but if he doesn't know what to look for, he may miss something.

A good way that I keep an open line of communication with my clients is that I give all of my clients my personal cell phone number.  This allows my clients to call me directly instead of having to leave messages with my paralegal or send me emails.  It also allows my clients to call me the moment they remember something.  If you were in a car accident because a deer ran in front of you, but you never tell me, I'm not going to know to look into raising that defense.  Make sure you find an attorney that will keep an open line of communication with you.

4. Proven Negotiation Skills

DUIs/DWIs can be quite tricky, on both the State side and on our side.  Very few cases are open and shut cases because it is not illegal to drink and drive in Maryland.  It's illegal to be impaired or under the influence and drive.  So that line of 1 beer an hour ago and 6 beers 10 minutes ago may be harder to spot than you think.  This is where negotiation skills are vital.  In a typical DUI, you are going to get at least 5 charges: Driving under the influence, Driving under the influence per se (meaning you blew a .08 or more), Driving while impaired, reckless driving, and negligent driving.  The first three are exactly what they sound like with a sliding scale of possible punishment, but reckless and negligent driving do not carry jail time (yet).  If you have a case that is on that borderline between guilty and not guilty, having a proven negotiator is useful to getting a locked in outcome that you like.  This will range depending on your situation and evidence, but that attorney can make all the difference in the world.

When I negotiate with the State, I make sure that I am fully ready for trial, regardless of whether it is a triable case.  Years and years of doing this has put me in the position where I know that I can walk into any courtroom here in Maryland and work out a good outcome or take the case to trial.  More often than not, by simply being ready to go to the distance, you end up better off.

5. Transparency and Honesty

It's hard to stress how important this one is to you.  The difference between a regular attorney and a great attorney can be the ability to talk honestly.  Sometimes, I have to tell a client that I've worked out a great deal and we can't win.  Other times, I have to tell them this is a bad offer and I should try the case.  Ultimately, it is your call, but knowing all of your options is pivotal to you walking away with a good result.  To put it in perspective, once I get the evidence from the State, I immediately look at it and determine what the evidence looks like.  Then I hop on a call with the client.  By then, I'll have already set them up with proper mitigation plans, but I may either tell them to increase or keep the same.  I may tell them that there is a specific legal issue that I want to win for them or that this case was royally screwed up and we need to try it.  It might be that I tell them the blow was done properly and we need to work the case out.  Regardless, your attorney should be able to tell you these things.  Make sure your attorney isn't afraid to tell you the truth.

Conclusion

Hiring the right DUI/DWI attorney for you is the most important part of preparing for court.  By checking off these requirements, you'll be in a much better position than you would otherwise.  For more questions, don't hesitate to reach out to us here at Hartman, Attorneys at Law.  I'll be happy to consult with you and let you know how we can put this behind you.