Finding a DWI Attorney

One of the first things I did after my arrest was hire an attorney to help me with the process. If you know someone who's been through this, a recommendation could be a good option, but for most people, the first place you'll look is the internet.

I googled "DWI attorney Collin County" for lawyers near me. There were so many results. I ended up going to the google maps app on my phone because it also shows reviews for these attorneys. I contacted about five attorneys and in the end, they all sounded experienced, had good reviews, had similar experiences with DWI cases and worked in my county. Only one was kind of arrogant and I didn't care for that personality so he was out.

Now it was about cost, so I went with one of the lowest costs. Hiring an attorney is not cheap. The range I was given was from $3500-$7000. And they almost did the same things.

I hired the one that cost $3500, paying $500/month installments. It did not include a $400 charge for applying for an ODL, which is an occupational drivers license you can get for 90 days while your licesnse is suspended. This is optional which allows you to drive to/from work and other necessary destinations like grocery or your kids' school, etc. I opted not to do this due to the cost, which was over $1000 with everything.

I ended up getting a different attorney than I expected. They worked in the same office and the case was assigned to someone else, apparently this is common. I didn't like that at first, because I made a decsion partly based on my comfort level speaking to the original guy. But oh well, the whole office did have good reviews and we were already in the process.

I only spoke to this new attorney over the phone once and she and I emailed back and forth a few times.

She charged a flat fee so I didn't get billed each time there was an email or a phone call from me, which I've heard some lawyers do. I didn't meet this lady in person until the first day of court, which was about 2 months after the paperwork was filed. After that, she represented me in a couple of court dates, which I was not required to attend. Then I met her again on the day all parties came to a settlement where she and I got in front of the judge and finalized the terms.

That was it, she and I were done. I never heard from or spoke to her again.

From my experience, here are some questions to ask an attorney if you know you are guilty and the goal is to get the least amount of probation and punishment possible. I didn't go to trial so that's not my epxerience. Here are some key questions:

• How many DWI or DUI cases have you worked on?

• Will you be handling my case or someone else in your office?

• What are some things I can do to reduce the fines and probation terms?

• What's the process? What is the first step and last step in this case?

• What's the estimated timeline of the entire court process?

• What are some of the possible outcomes of the case?

• Can probation period be reduced later? (in some cases it can)

• Do you need payment in full or is installments ok?