In the past I have blogged about how to beat a Kansas DUI and how to hire the best Kansas DUI lawyer that you possibly can. A California Lawyer Magazine has an interesting article about the legal industry as it relates to the DUI business. As the article points out, the law keeps getting harsher and the DUI arrest numbers keep going up. This has created a feeding frenzy among lawyers for DUI business. The article points out the difference between attorneys who have taken the time to actually learn and apply the science involved in DUI cases, and those that are running a “fee mill”, doing a high volume of cases, charging low fees and basically providing no service to their clients. These lawyers are referred to in the article as “dump trucks” or as “escort services” for reasons you will read below.
The article is important for several reasons. It highlights the fact that there is a wide diversity of talent in the DUI attorney arena. You have to do your research. Anyone that managed to get out of law school can call themselves a Kansas DUI attorney, but that doesn’t mean that they actually have invested the time and money necessary to do the job the right way.
From the article:
At one end of the spectrum are the specialists who’ve spent much of their professional lives mastering arcane technical issues such as blood and breath partition ratios, microbial contamination in urinalysis, and the perils of retrograde extrapolation in roadside chemical tests. These attorneys typically charge anywhere from $3,500 to $10,000 to defend a first offender, not including the expert witness fees or lab tests that may be required…
At the other end of the spectrum are cut-rate practitioners with no particular expertise, who charge as little as $1,000 per case. These include “dump truck” lawyers, who sign up as many clients as possible and then dump them all on the guilty-plea docket; and “escort” lawyers, who escort clients up to the judge like a high-paid call girl, plead them guilty, and then disappear with the money.
The article also talks about these websites that sell “exclusive” listings to lawyers to be named as the attorney for Kansas or another state. The marketing of some of these sites to lawyers is enough to turn your stomach. One website out of California markets their listings to lawyers by telling them how easy it is to get hired on a DUI case and then plead it out to make quick, easy money. Unsuspecting people who have been charged with a DUI call the toll free number and the call gets routed to the attorney from the area code of the caller, or emails to the site get referred out to the lawyer. These websites will claim to have the “Best DUI Lawyers in America” or something equally as impressive, but the lawyers really are just the first people to buy the advertising space. The website are professional marketers, so the sites come up high in the rankings on search engines. The attorney may or may not have a clue about DUI defense.
The article also points out something else that is true: the best DUI attorneys in Kansas, like California, are going to be the most expensive. In the Kansas DUI defense world, you get what you pay for. Unfortunately, you cannot hire someone for a few hundred dollars and expect to receive a high level of service and skill in the defense of your case. You have to decide if you want to beat your Kansas DUI case or not. If you want to have a chance to win, you have to get the best Kansas DUI lawyer you can find in your area. That may cost more money, but if it helps you keep your driver’s license, keep your job, and avoid jail, fines, court costs and higher insurance rates, it will be worth it.
The article is also interesting in that it discusses how skewed the law is against DUI cases, but how skilled, innovative and industrious DUI lawyers can find ways to win these cases. The science is not airtight. It is based on some fallacious assumptions in the first case, but it is also administered by human beings who will pretty regularly make mistakes or, worse, intentionally fudge the science. Having the right lawyer can make a big difference.
The bottom line is that Kansas DUI is big business. It is big business for the courts that make money from these cases. It is big business for the police departments who get grant money and equipment given to them by government agencies and MADD. It is big business for tow companies, bondsmen, the ignition interlock providers and other peripheral service providers. It is also big business for lawyers. There are a lot of pretenders out there. If you want the best Kansas DUI lawyer you need to do more than look at the Yellow Pages or go to the first website that you see. Please re-read my previous posts on How to Hire the Best Kansas DUI Attorney. If there is a way to beat your Kansas DUI, you will need someone with knowledge, skills and experience – not the cheapest guy you can find.