#3 Can the lawyer provide the best representation at a fee you can afford?

There are different categories of lawyers who practice DUI defense. There are some attorneys, who label themselves as “nationally recognized experts” in the field of DUI defense and charge exorbitant amounts of money for their services.

Then there are excellent criminal defense lawyers, who handle a wide variety of criminal matters, including DUI cases. These lawyers, in my opinion, bring even more to the table than those who strictly do OUI defense. This is so, because at the end of the day, no DUI case is the same, just like no criminal case is the same, and the more diversified exposure a lawyer gets, the more prepared he or she is to handle whatever curveballs a criminal trial may bring about. So, these OUI lawyers are also very good and their fees are likely to be less than those charged by the “national experts” mentioned above.

Finally, there are lawyers who handle DUI cases to supplement their other practice areas. Generally, this is a category of private lawyers, who are not sufficiently equipped to handle a DUI case, especially if it goes to trial. Their fees will probably be lower, but in all likelihood, you will be asked to take some sort of a plea deal and forego fighting your DUI case at an often time-consuming trial.