THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION: "SHOULD I HIRE A DUI LAWYER?"

One of the common problems our clients face, in addition to the underlying criminal charges of course, is taking time off of work to appear in Court for hours on end, sometimes wasting an entire day's worth of work.

When you have an attorney to represent you, (at least on misdemeanor cases less some exceptions such as Domestic Violence cases and other types of cases involving protective orders), the attorney can appear on your behalf pursuant to Penal Code Section 977(a)(1); thereby waiving your personal appearance in Court. Even in those cases where a protective order is involved, after the initial appearance, a lawyer can typically waive your appearance for future Court appearance dates pursuant to Penal Code Section 977(a)(1). 

Most DUI cases are filed as misdemeanors; thus, your personal appearance can be waived in virtually all instances. That said, some Orange County Courts, (but not all), insist on having defendants appears at a continued arraignment before agreeing to set the matter for a pretrial conference. This is to allow the Court to impress upon the defendant the seriousness of the case and of the release conditions, i.e., AA Meetings as part of the defendant's continued release on their own recognizance, even in cases where bail has been posted. Nevertheless, a DUI Attorney will typically be able to waive the defendant's appearance for subsequent appearances pursuant to Penal Code Section 977(a)(1).  

Regardless of whether you may have to appear at one court appearance, defendants with attorneys can have their personal appearance waived pursuant to Penal Code Section 977(a)(1); thereby permitting you to continue working and handling your other or additional life obligations without having to worry about wasting your time in Court. 

As I often tell prospective clients, the decision to hire a lawyer for a DUI case is to ensure that an "expert" examines the case to determine whether all i's were dotted and all t's were crossed and further, that the biggest word in the English language has the fewest number of letters, which is the word: "If". If you had hired an experienced DUI Defense Attorney, would the outcome have been different. 

I further tell prospective clients that people with second offense cases often state that they wish they had fought the first offense, believing, (sometimes correctly), that if they had fought the first and won, they would not be facing a second offense. Put another way, looking back and regretting not trying to find a way to have prevailed on a prior case is one of the most common complaints I find when discussing a second or even a third offense DUI case. Thus, if you want to make sure all the i's were dotted and t's were crossed and do not want to look back in regret and ask yourself whether the result would have been different had you hired an "expert" to review your DUI case, you should retain an Orange County DUI Defense lawyer to represent you against your Orange County DUI charge. The consultation is free, so why not pick up the phone and call now for your Free Orange County DUI Consultation: 949-305-0343. 

Some alleged "DUI Attorneys" will advise that the DMV Hearing is pointless. I disagree. The DMV Hearing is the first chance a DUI Lawyer gets, and you get, to learn about your case and the legal and/or factual defenses to your DUI case. 

The DMV Hearing is also a great forum to obtain testimony, either from the officers or the Crime Laboratory, to develop defenses to your DUI Case. Do not underestimate the value of a DMV Hearing to your DUI Defense as this would be a dire mistake.