Tuesday, June 19, 2012

PART 4: LAWYER UP OR NOT TO LAWYER UP: HOW TO FIGHT A TRAFFIC TICKET

Last week we discussed what were the differences in the kind of courts you might have to appear, and once there, what your court strategy should be, all in Part 3 of How to Fight a Traffic Ticket once you get one. Today we shall discuss whether you should hire a lawyer.
You get what you pay for: One of things I’ve learned in life, and at times both the easy and the hard way, is that you really do get what you pay for in life. America is truly the land of opportunity, options, and choices, and there is no doubt that those choices run the range of what you can afford. In America you truly can get the cheapest and the best of anything, and most of it made or served here. But I’ve also learned that trying to find both at the same time doesn’t always come that easily, if at all.
Negotiator v. Litigator, finding the best lawyer: So is the case with trying to find good, effective legal representation in court, any court. America is a very litigious society, so we have a plethora of lawyers here. My experience over the years as a police officer has proven to me however, that getting one kind of good lawyer doesn’t necessarily mean that the same lawyer will be as effective in another kind of legal venue. A friend once told me that there are two kinds of lawyers: negotiators and litigators, and rarely do you find one who is good at both.  A good negotiator bargains the best position for you before he/she has to take you to trial.  A good litigator argues the best position for you at the trial right up to the verdict. An excellent lawyer, hard to find, can do both with glib. The most classic example of the best criminal defense money can buy was literally at the infamous OJ trial. By combining the best litigators, negotiators, DNA evidentiary lawyers, and having the best appeals lawyers on standby taking notes at the trial in case of a conviction, OJ probably had the best defense a criminal defendant ever had in the history of the US Constitution. But just because you once hired a good real estate lawyer who closed a complex deal to buy a shopping mall, doesn’t necessarily mean that you are going to have the best criminal defense with your DWI arrest or speeding ticket. Even more significantly, watching the OJ trial became a daunting exercise for most Americans, knowing that at $500+ an hour, that was a legal defense few can afford. And that's one of the reasons he became broke. . .
Don’t cut corners and get the best defense you can buy: Because of the above reasons, unfortunately I have seen people cut corners in traffic court to their detriment. A good entertainment lawyer does not necessarily make for a good real estate lawyer, and a good litigator does not necessarily make for a good negotiator. Cutting costs by asking a lawyer friend/relative to do you a favor, or retaining another kind of lawyer for your traffic case, does not usually make for the best legal representation. Just because your cousin Vinny, a Harvard Law graduate, has a successful practice or partnership in patent law, doesn’t necessarily mean that he will be a legal eagle for your traffic ticket at the Town of Hicksville’s Village Traffic Court. If you think about it in medical terms, that’s like asking your cousin the podiatrist to perform an appendectomy. Would you have him do that on you? So with the obvious answer, why should you have any other kind of lawyer represent you in traffic court?

Although most law schools probably teach the same kind of law to students, and all lawyers have to usually pass the same kind of bar exam, experienced lawyers have different kinds of specialties. Those who have the most experience in their field generally make the best kind of lawyers in their field. Asking a lawyer to represent you in an area he has no experience unless he’s Oliver Wendell Holmes, is inviting disaster. Therefore, if you decide to get a lawyer to represent you in traffic court, read this carefully: for a traffic offense, please do yourself a big favor, and hire a traffic court lawyer. Do not try to be cheap and save money by asking a friend/relative lawyer to represent you in traffic court. If you are a millionaire tycoon, if you want to be well represented in traffic court, tell your personal attorney to find the best traffic lawyer there is in the jurisdiction of the offense and then get your personal attorney to hire him.

Traffic defense lawyer v. Criminal defense lawyer: My experiences have proven to me that traffic court lawyers, as opposed to any other kind of lawyer, are the best suited to defend you in traffic court. The good ones generally make it more difficult for me to get a conviction of their client, and of the few that got an acquittal, the client usually got his money’s worth, whether the client realized it or not. The best traffic court lawyers usually devote all of their practice to traffic law, which sometimes include DWI criminal defense. The better traffic lawyers generally do more traffic defense than they do regular criminal defense. Traffic lawyers have a good working knowledge of traffic law and of the court in which they practice their craft. The experienced ones have earned their keep literally through trial and error, and have learned from triumphs and mistakes. A regular criminal defense attorney may be well suited for your traffic defense, but most likely unless they have years of experience, he/she will not have the rounded experience defending cases in traffic court. In searching for a traffic lawyer, I would try to find one that mostly or exclusively deals with traffic court defense.
How much you’ll pay and when to look for a lawyer for free: The average lawyer charges an hourly fee anywhere from about $300/hour and higher. Expect to pay at the bare minimum, and depending on the traffic offense, anywhere starting from $250 without bail, to anywhere up to $1000-$2000 including bail for your traffic defense. These costs include the severity of the offense accused and the caliber of the attorney who’s charging you. For those who cannot afford the added expense of an attorney, I suggest you seek the advice of the Legal Aid Society to see if an attorney there can lend a hand. In our current economy, I am sure there are unemployed/underemployed attorneys who can provide assistance on either a sliding scale or pro bono, and traffic court makes excellent practice for more complex and more serious trials. I’ve seen fresh law students come to traffic defense for practice and love it so much for the fast money and easy turn-around that they have made it their careers and a lucrative living. Seeking a referral from a law school can also help you if money is a big factor.

Defending yourself: Although Shakespeare was right when he wrote "whosoever is his own counsel has a fool for his client," there are times, however, that legal representation is less needed for simple traffic offenses, like correctible equipment violations. Do this at your own peril. On the opposite side, if you are on the last point of your license, or if a conviction leads to an automatic suspension or revocation, I would tell you to take no chances, and if you cannot find a good traffic defense attorney by word of mouth, then go to the Internet on Google to find “the best traffic court attorney in ____” the jurisdiction of your ticket.
Bottom Line: You get what you pay for and hiring legal counsel for a traffic violation is no exception. In your search for a good lawyer, the more money you pay will usually get you the better defense. Generally you can forgo legal help for simple repairable equipment infractions, but for more serious hazardous violations, especially in cases where your license is on the line, it is best to get help from a lawyer, and a traffic one at that. If you cannot find one by word of mouth I suggest you research to find the best you can afford. Some of the best ones I found come from customer reviews, like from Google or Yelp. For a typical speeding, red light, or other serious infraction, expect to pay around $1000 including bail for a lawyer (this is not including the fine, but the bail money might defray that cost), and the more appearances the lawyer has to make in court for your case (for appeals or unforeseen/unexpected hearing dates) the more you’ll have to pay, on average about $300+/hour. Comparative to a regular criminal defense however, a traffic defense costs way less money and has a better value since traffic defenses do not require as much legal billable hours. To determine whether you are getting value for your money in legal bills, consider how much the costs of a conviction will be including the fines and the insurance surcharges for having a hazardous violation on your record. Even if you are convicted, I believe you might find the money spent on a good legal defense was worth the money and piece of mind. Don’t forget the time off from work and the effort you would have to put together to do the research and testimony to actually defend yourself.

LATER IN THE WEEK: Whether you have a lawyer or not, I will show you how to testify once you are ready for court. ALSO coming up on DEAR SGT. AL: What rights to you have when the police want to search your car?

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1 comment:

Sgt. Al here. I welcome your comments, ideas, and suggestions. You have questions about the police, and I'm interested in hearing what you have to say as a citizen. Thanks!

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