There are a lot of DUI attorneys out there. Whatever city you are in, Google DUI attorney with your city in front of it, and see how many entries pop up. I'm in Seattle, just did it, and it returned 1.5 million results. That means there are a lot people out there holding themselves out as DUI lawyers. What makes one different from all the others? Is there any difference between one DUI lawyer and another?
I think there is.
Among Seattle DUI attorneys, for example, I would say there are at least distinct, different types of lawyers out there. And then within those three groups are even more little groups, which differ more on personality and look and feel than anything else. What are those three groups? Pay attention.
In group 1, which I would call the not so good group, we have the not so good DUI attorneys. These guys can usually be distinguished by one thing, sadly, their price. At some point it becomes hard to distinguish one lawyer from another, but not when you are under a certain price point. And here's why. We all only have so many hours in the day. We all only have so much time we can use. If you are charging very little for your services, you have to have more cases to cover your expenses. More cases means less time per case.
And on top of the fact that cheap DUI lawyers (and I mean anything under $2,000 - and even at that price you are taking your chances) don't charge much, they must not think their expertise is worth that much. In my eyes, I'm changing people's lives for the better. When I take a case, I'm doing everything I can to make the outcome as good as possible. And that costs.
The second level of DUI defense attorney is the one that is of middling price, works hard, but doesn't have the experience or the chops to be a true big dog DUI defense lawyer. They do good work, and they are competent, and they are worth their fee, but they haven't yet reached that super star level yet.
And then the third level is your superstar. They will probably take second level prices if it's a routine case, but people usually call them when they've got a truly disastrous situation (and the money to pay to get out of it). These are the attorneys everyone knows. These are the big dogs.
To answer the question of this article, yes, one DUI attorney is different from another. There are many factors that make them different. That's why you need to talk to more than one before making your decision.
