When I’m at a cocktail party and someone asks me what I do for a living, and I tell them that I defend drinking drivers, the conversation often ends quickly. One reason lawyers and in particular criminal defense lawyers, and even more in particular, lawyers who represent “drunk drivers” are so unpopular is because our role in the system is so misunderstood.
I have written on this topic before, but I had to share this quote. It may be almost thirty years old, and it may be written by a judge in a state other than Michigan, but the sentiment still applies.
It is the essence of our adversary system that each litigant have the assistance of a lawyer who is prepared, if it be appropriate, to defy hell on his or her client’s behalf.
To many, the lawyer is a mere extension of the will of the client. The client wishes to pursue certain ends but is without technical, legal skills. The lawyer provides those skills. He is in a sense a conduit through which the client pursues his ends. The lawyer at once is both highly partisan and completely neutral. He aggressively pursues the ends of his client, yet he remains personally indifferent to those ends.
A lawyer is and must be the ultimate advocate. He speaks for and in the interest of his client. He seizes every fair advantage available to his client. And when his client is on the ropes, the lawyer, standing alone if need be, is that one person who, in the interest of his client, skillfully defies the state, the opposing litigant, or whoever threatens. The lawyer is prepared to stand against the forces of hell though others see that as his client’s just dessert. He assures all adversaries, in the vernacular of the streets, “You may get my client but you’re got to come through me first.”
If the lawyer is to perform these vital functions, he must be unfettered, he must in the course of his advocacy be indulged freedom from prior restraints, even when he skates close to the edge.
Thornton v. Breland 441 So.2d 1348, 1350 (1983).
If you’re facing a drunk driving charge, and you’d like to know how I can be the one person, standing alone, who can skillfully defy the state in your behalf, contact us today!
Once you hire the Barone Defense Firm you can tell the police “you may get to me but you’re going to have to go through the Barone Defense Firm first!”
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.
