7 Questions To Ask Your Potential DUI Lawyer
About 1.5 million people every year are arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. A DUI can have a serious outcome so when this happens, it’s vital to find a DUI lawyer that will get the best possible outcome for your case.
To do this, you need to make sure you’re picking the best lawyer in the area.
Here are the questions to ask your potential DUI lawyer in Mount Pleasant to ensure they’re the best fit for you.
1. How Much Experience Do You Have With DUIs?
Before you go ahead, it’s vital to check how much experience your lawyer has with this. Your DUI case could be influenced by how well your lawyer can navigate situations like yours so even if they have decades of experience with the law, it’s important to check that they know specifically what they’re doing in this area.
Sometimes you’ll be able to find this information on their website but if not, you can always just ask. You should also ask about how many cases they’ve won and lost when it comes to DUIs — someone who’s handled them for less time but has a higher win rate might be a much better choice than someone who’s been handling these cases for twenty years and rarely does well with them.
2. Where Can I Read Reviews/Testimonials/References?
When hiring an attorney, you should try to verify that they’ve left a trail of happy clients behind them. You can do this by finding reviews and testimonials.
Sometimes, the lawyer will have testimonials on their website that you can read from past clients. Other times, you can go and find some reviews on third-party sites.
If none of these are available — or you want more reassurance — they should be able to provide you with references from past clients who are happy to recommend them.
3. Do You Have Dedicated Support Staff?
A good lawyer takes on so much work that they often need staff to help them, such as assistants and paralegals. If you have a DUI case, you’ll want to make sure your attorney has all the support they need so they never get overwhelmed with how much work they have on their plate.
If they don’t have anyone to help and operate on their own, you might want to think twice about hiring them. Plenty of lawyers have staff around them to take the weight off, and those are the ones you should look at hiring.
4. What Is the Strategy?
When you’ve both discussed the case, you should ask what the lawyer’s strategy should be — as well as the outcome they’re hoping for. While no one can predict exactly how a case will go, the lawyer should have seen enough of them to have an end goal and figure out a defense that they think will work well in the local courts.
5. What Is Your Availability?
We all have responsibilities to work around, like work and dependents. Therefore, it’s important to make sure you’ll actually be able to meet with the lawyer frequently.
If you have a very flexible schedule, this may not be much of an issue. If you can only meet on evenings and weekends, however, it might be important to ensure the lawyer has office hours where you can talk to them. If you keep missing each other and stretching out the time, the case may end up being very rushed and a lack of communication between client and attorney can severely impact the outcome.
6. What Is the Payment Structure?
Lawyers are not often inexpensive, so it’s important to ask about the payment structure before you go ahead and hire them. Some lawyers charge a retainer fee, some charge purely by the hour, and so on. They may not be able to predict the exact final cost but they should be able to explain the structure to you.
Remember though — if you can afford to be picky within your budget, don’t automatically hire the cheapest lawyer. What if they’re the cheapest because they’re less experienced, have lost more cases, or have a bad reputation in the area?
Consider the cost, but consider it alongside everything else.
7. How Confident Are You in My Case?
You should finally ask your attorney how confident they are in your case and gauge the answer.
This is where you’ll get a good read on how they feel about taking it on. They should be able to explain the law to you in a way that feels reassuring and informative, not patronizing. It should, ultimately, feel like they’re in your corner.
If you feel uncomfortable or judged, it may not be a good fit. The reason for this is that you need to be able to open up to your lawyer and give them the necessary truth. If you can’t do this because you don’t mesh with them, there’s another DUI lawyer out there for you.
Ask Your Potential DUI Lawyer in Mount Pleasant These Questions
When hiring a DUI lawyer in Mount Pleasant, it’s critical to find the right one. That means asking them a number of questions to ensure the best fit, so you should make all the inquiries you want — but these are the questions that you should definitely include. That way, you can hire them with confidence they’ll do a great job for you.
If you’re beginning your search for a DUI lawyer in the area, contact us today, and let’s talk. We’ve been working with clients since 1996 to achieve great results.