Sunday, December 04, 2005

Finding A Good San Diego DUI Attorney

Finding and retaining a drunk driving attorney can be a difficult process; there are many incompetent, inexperienced and/or unethical lawyers. However, asking the following questions can be helpful in choosing good DUI attorneys or lawyers:
DUI defense is a technical and highly specialized field (see the article on DUI specialization in the "American Bar Association Journal"): Does the lawyer handle drinking and driving cases only — or does he accept other types of criminal or civil cases as well? (This would be like a family doctor attempting brain surgery, cancer research and heart transplants.) What percentage of the attorney's caseload consists of DUI Cases?
Does the lawyer have access to technical expert witnesses in police procedures and blood/breath analysis? Will blood samples be reanalyzed by a lab?
Does the attorney make promises as to the results he can get in the case? This is something no ethical attorney would do, as specific results are unpredictable.
Are fees fully explained and set forth in a written contract? Is the fee simply an initial retainer, or is it all inclusive? Do the fees cover such "extras" as the DMV license hearing, expert testimony, blood reanalysis, trial, subpoena costs, etc.?
What is the lawyer's rating with the Martindale-Hubbell International Directory of Attorneys? (The highest rating for competence and ethics is "A-V")
Did the lawyer attend a reputable law school? Is he a member of the National College for DUI Defense? Is he Board-certified by that organization?
Have there been any State Bar complaints against the attorney?
There appear to be only three law firms in California which both specialize in drunk driving defense exclusively and are "A-V" rated ("very good to preeminent") by the Martindale-Hubbell International Directory of Attorneys. Two of these firms are headed by former Deans of the National College for DUI Defense and, under the auspices of the American Bar Association, are both Board-certified by that prestigious organization.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

San Diego DUI Part 2

Not realizing that I was about to embark on a tedious San Diego DUI experience, I was more discouraged that my friend and I were going to miss djing the after party. Priorities, huh? Thankfully the police officer let my friend remove the turntables and the rest of the dj equipment out of the trunk before inpounding my car! My friend had to carry 2 turntables, the mixer, 2 monitor speakers and 3 crates of records nearly 2 miles back to the pad.

I've constructed this website to be THE complete one-stop source for San Diegans who are going through or know of someone in the San Diego DUI process, as well as proper steps in attaining reliable San Diego legal assistance.

Friday, November 25, 2005

San Diego DUI Part 1

Let me tell you about my San Diego DUI that took place around 6 years ago. It happened in Pacific Beach a beach community of San Diego, CA. I was leaving a club at that time called Plan B and drunk as hell. Of course I thought that I could make it home, I'd done it a million times before. When I took a dip to fast out of the parking lot that's all the officer needed to see before he pulled me over on the corner of Garnet and Cass. The fact my car wasn't registered didn't play in my favor, either. One more thing I suggest is coming to a complete stop as soon as you see those lights, I drove as far as I could in an attempted to concile what I was hiding in my pocket but found that to be dangerous as he pulled his gun and yelled at me to get out of the car because I had my hand in my pockets before I came to a complete stop!