Comments on: DUI Lawyers as Highly Paid Enablers https://winbackyourlife.org/dui-lawyers-as-highly-paid-enablers/ Survive Your Michigan DUI Arrest - CALL (248) 306-9159 for your FREE case review Fri, 19 Nov 2010 22:14:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: kennedy https://winbackyourlife.org/dui-lawyers-as-highly-paid-enablers/comment-page-1/#comment-39 kennedy Sat, 23 May 2009 16:32:06 +0000 https://winbackyourlife.org/?p=541#comment-39 Years ago, I ran a first-offender program for a court. A big problem was that the DWI lawyers were not emphasizing the disconnect between criminal culpability/likelihood of legal guilt and whether the client had a problem. This led to clients believing things like "I don't have a problem, breath machines screw up." or, "I don't have a problem, I passed the field tests." My favorite is "The cop didn't show up, the case was dismissed, I was never drunk!" Attorneys doing DWI work have an obligation to address the whole client--if a client has a test north of a .16 and did OK on fields, that's a good sign of tolerance and a drinking problem. Send 'em off to treatment. Granted, the business doesn't allow so much for hand-holding, but some obligation to get the client to see the bigger picture apart from whether the charge can be 'beat' does exist. I've tried more than a thousand DWIs myself, and been a judge on about 6000 more. Just had to add a little something. Years ago, I ran a first-offender program for a court. A big problem was that the DWI lawyers were not emphasizing the disconnect between criminal culpability/likelihood of legal guilt and whether the client had a problem. This led to clients believing things like “I don’t have a problem, breath machines screw up.” or, “I don’t have a problem, I passed the field tests.” My favorite is “The cop didn’t show up, the case was dismissed, I was never drunk!” Attorneys doing DWI work have an obligation to address the whole client–if a client has a test north of a .16 and did OK on fields, that’s a good sign of tolerance and a drinking problem. Send ‘em off to treatment. Granted, the business doesn’t allow so much for hand-holding, but some obligation to get the client to see the bigger picture apart from whether the charge can be ‘beat’ does exist.
I’ve tried more than a thousand DWIs myself, and been a judge on about 6000 more. Just had to add a little something.

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