Obviously, if you have a DUI and you're looking around websites and various search engines and other means to find an attorney, you're going to want to set up a consultation with an attorney. Some of the things that I would look for in a consultation is first, is the attorney that I'm going to be consulting with is actually going to be the attorney that has something to do with my case.

You don't want to consult with somebody and all that person is a seller of DUI services, but that person themselves doesn't actually do any DUI's. Does that even make any sense to you? Why would you want to get representation from someone who is using someone to talk to you to sell you on a case and that person has nothing to do with doing the DUI's. How the heck would they know what's happening in the courthouses across LA county as it relates to DUI's if all they do is DUI consultations.

Developing a Defense Strategy

I do the consultations in my firm for the most part and I also go to court on the DUI cases. I can't be everywhere at once. Fortunately, my father has the same name as me and he's been an attorney for forty years, so that obviously helps, and I have other attorneys that help me as well just to cover such a huge ground like Los Angeles County, but I'm involved in all the cases. I'm reviewing the police reports. I'm talking to the clients. I talk to the prosecutors. I strategize the case and I figure out exactly what it's going to take to get the best result in the case.

So, when you're talking about a consultation. Say, am I going to meet with the attorney who if I pay them the money and hire them is actually going to be the one who deals with my case, because otherwise I don't' want to meet with this attorney.

Another thing is when you're doing consultations over the phone related to a DUI you have the same issue. Who am I talking to? Are you the attorney who is going to be dealing with it? Are you somebody that actually knows something about DUI's and the case and can give me some good information about the case?

Face-To-Face Meeting

I always tell my office manager and I try not to do it either, is to try to quote DUI cases over the phone because what some people do who obviously don't know much about DUI's and don't know much about how the DUI and criminal system work, is they get a bunch of quotes over the phone and then they go get the consultations face-to-face based on that.

Wait a minute though. If you're doing it like that, a bunch of cheapskate attorneys who have no experience and don't mainly do DUI's as part of their practice, could underquote because they don't know anything about it. They're trying to break into the business.

You're basically going to be their guinea pig. Great, you got a nice little quote from them. So, what? They can't do anything on your case. They're not sophisticated. They don't know how to deal with the prosecutors. They're not in court all the time.

Questions to Ask a DUI Lawyer

So, when you do these consultations you need to ask some questions before you even come into the consultation. Who am I meeting with? What kind of background does this person have? What kind of background does this firm have? Check them out.

Check the reviews out before you come into the consultation. When you come into the consultation come prepared for prepared. Have a list of questions. Ask the person, how long have they been doing DUI's? How well do they know the courthouse? What do they think they can do to help you? Tell them about your case. Be honest with them.

If you give them a bunch of spins and lies about what happened, that's not going to help you. Then they're not going to base any type of opinion on real facts. So, when you do these consultations, you have to come in ready to go. You have to come in with your questions.

You have to make sure you're sitting in front of somebody for a consultation who is actually an attorney who goes to court, does DUI cases, knows how to win them, knows when it's time to plea bargain and resolve them, knows when they should be dismissed, knows how to deal with a DMV hearing, knows how to check calibration records. All these things need to be discussed when you go in for a DUI consultation with an attorney in Los Angeles County.

So, when I do these consultations, you call me up. You either speak to me or my office manager. We set the appoint up. We go over everything. We talk to you about it. We give you an idea of what we can do to help you, what you're facing, what you can do to help us.

Then we're going to quote you what we believe is a reasonable price and if you decide to hire us, we're going to start working on your case right away and then you'll know you had a successful consultation and you're going to get the best representation possible related to your DUI matter.