If you’re arrested for a DUI in The Greater-Detroit area (meaning anywhere in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb or the surrounding counties), the very first thing you should is NOT be in a rush to do anything.
Although it seems difficult at the moment - don’t panic!
Seriously; one of the worst things a person can do following a DUI arrest is act out of fear and rush to hire some lawyer. It’s normal to “freak out” in this situation, but that also makes it a very bad time to make any kind of big decision, like which lawyer to retain.
Instead, slow down, take a little time and check around.
As much as it seems that getting a lawyer right away is the first thing you ought to do, it’s not. There is nothing any lawyer can or will do right away that will make any positive difference in a DUI case.
This is especially true for people who look for a DUI attorney over the weekend. It’s not like a lawyer can do anything immediately, or otherwise “hit the ground running” to any advantage on Monday.
The simple fact is that winning legal defenses and strategies come about through deliberate planning after a careful analysis of the facts and evidence. It is entirely disingenuous to pretend otherwise.
Therefore, anyone fresh off of a DUI arrest should absolutely take a little time and “chill out."
Of course, that is, in a sense, like saying “calm down” to someone who is really upset, but the fact is, you need to think your way through this, not flail around in panic.
No matter what, finding the right DUI lawyer for your case is best done with a clear, cool head.
Of course, it’s in some lawyer’s best financial interest to be the first to respond to someone who is stressed out and feels a compelling need to hire legal counsel right away, but that doesn’t make it right, especially for the client.
In that regard, it’s exactly NOT in our financial interests for me to say these things, which is also exactly why the reader should pay attention.
It would certainly be more profitable for me to simply say “Call Now!” like everyone else, but the truth is that it is always better for the client to check around and do some comparison shopping when looking for a lawyer.
Always. There is simply no downside to being a smart consumer.
Accordingly, a potential client should avoid any lawyer not confident enough in him or herself to suggest anything other than that a person should do just that.
A truly good lawyer will not only encourage this - as is our practice - but will also invite the person to call back, even if just to “compare notes” with anything some other lawyer has said, as we do to everyone with whom we speak.
There is simply no good reason for a person to NOT explore his or her options, and to be clear, this has nothing to do with price-shopping, either.
In that regard, anyone interested in the best price can skip calling us, or any of the better DUI lawyers. We don’t compete on price, and ours will be nowhere near the cheapest. Unlike everyone else, though, we do publish our
Fees.
Whatever else, when it comes to legal representation, a person will never get what they don’t pay for.
Moreover, any lawyer who thinks one of his or her best qualities is being “affordable” or price-competitive, is marketing their services in a way that’s really a race to the bottom.
On the flip side, however, it is way too easy for someone to pay too much for a lawyer.
For every cut-rate attorney out there, it’s easy to find even more who charge premium fees for nothing more than average services and skills. Far more lawyers think too much of themselves, rather than too little.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHY IT’S IMPORTANT FOR A PERSON TO TAKE A LITTLE TIME, DO SOME HOMEWORK, AND LOOK AROUND.
Read around, and then call around. You can learn a lot by speaking to a living person. If you feel any “pressure” when you contact a lawyer or law firm, that’s a red flag. No lawyer worth hiring will ever push someone to do anything other than check around and invite him or her to call back.
A genuinely good lawyer wants to know that he or she was chosen as being the best for the job, not merely the fastest or the first to call back.
Think about it: Most people put in time when they look for something like a new refrigerator or TV. Why would a person ever consider doing anything less when making a decision as important as hiring a lawyer to handle something as important as a DUI?
Don’t make that mistake.
Be a wise consumer, do your homework, and make sure you talk to as many lawyers as you can before deciding which one to hire.