How to be Sure the DUI Attorney You Hire to Handle Your Pending Drunk Driving Case will Provide the Best Possible Representation:
Many attorneys that handle drunk driving cases don’t have sufficient training to appropriately represent their clients, while others simply don’t have the desire to do so. When considering what attorney or law firm you wish to have represent you in your case, you may want to consider asking them if the abide by the following “10 Commandments”:
The Ten Commandments For Ethically
And Effectively Representing Clients at Trial
By William C. Head
Reprinted by permission, DWI Journal, Vol. 21, No. 3 (March 2006)
I. Thou shall not undertake defending DUI-DWI cases without comprehensive training in field test procedures and the forensic tests used against your client.
II. Thou shalt not attempt to win without utilizing your own expert witness when the state’s presumptively valid tests are admitted into evidence at trial.
III. Thou shalt timely file and competently and diligently pursue every viable motion, trial objection, mistrial opportunity and voir dire (of the state’s so-called forensic experts) in an endeavor to try to totally eliminate the State’s test evidence.
IV. Thou shalt always use a certified court reporter to keep the judge vigilant to not make politically-motivated or bias-driven rulings when you raise legal objections before, at or after trial.
V. Thou shalt formulate a consistent trial theme and case strategy for meeting and defeating the State’s case against your client, and weave this theme throughout the trial.
VI. Thou shalt remain constantly vigilant throughout trial for omissions and failures of proof by the State in its case-in-chief and make strategic decisions on how to capitalize on those mistakes.
VII. Thou shalt never be deterred or intimidated by an impatient or unfair judge and fail to assert timely, targeted and proper objections, proffers (offers of proof) and motions to properly preserve appellate issues that may result in a total win or a new trial.
VIII. Thou shalt research, know and have available at court all critical legal precedent before appearing at any court proceedings that could affect your client’s chances for ultimate success.
IX. Thou shalt never put your client on the witness stand at trial until and unless all other avenues of proof of critical evidence will be inadequate in the quest for victory.
X. Thou shalt comport yourself in a professional, visually appealing and endearing manner to the trier of fact of all times in order to not be the potential cause of your client’s conviction at trial.
This post was written by...
baronedefensefirm – who has written 204 posts on Michigan Drunk Driving Lawyers.
Patrick T. Barone is the author on two books on DUI defense including the well respected two volume treatise Defending Drinking Drivers (James Publishing), and The DUI Book – A Citizen’s Guide to Understanding DUI Litigation in America. He is also the author of a monthly DUI defense column for the Criminal Defense Newsletter, published by Michigan’s State Appellate Defender’s Office. Mr. Barone is an adjunct professor at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School where he teaches Drunk Driving Law and Practice. He is also on the faculty of the Criminal Defense Attorney’s of Michigan’s Trial Lawyer’s College where he provides trial skills training to Michigan’s criminal defense practitioners. Mr. Barone lectures nationally on various DUI defense topics, and he has appeared in newspapers, on television and on radio as a drunk driving defense expert. Mr. Barone has been certified as an instructor and practitioner of the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests and has also attended a 24-hour certification course at National Patent Analytical Corporation (the manufacturer of the DataMaster) and has thereby been deemed competent by the manufacturer to operate, perform essential diagnostic verifications and calibration checks on the DataMaster. Mr. Barone is a Sustaining Member of College for DUI Defense. Mr. Barone is the principal and founding member of The Barone Defense Firm, whose practice is limited exclusively to defending drinking drivers. The Firm is headquartered in Birmingham, Michigan.
