Hiring a Private DUI Attorney Versus a Public Defender
Often times in my practice when I met with prospective clients they ask me the biggest difference between my services and going with a public defender for free.
In my opinion there are three main differences between hiring your own private DUI Attorney versus going with the court appointed defender.
This is just my opinion and is not meant to be a reflection of the legal field as a whole.
First when you hire your own private DUI Attorney you get to interview as many attorneys as you like and find the one you feel most comfortable with, and who you think will get you the best results.
When someone is appointed a public defender they don't get to interview that attorney, they don't get to try and find the best fit, and they don't get to ask questions about that attorneys experience and what they success rate is.
Once you get assigned a public defender that is who will represent you, and typically no exceptions are made.
Secondly is the size of the caseload between a private DUI Attorney and a public defender.
Often public defenders I have very high caseloads.
Meaning at any given time they could have a couple hundred clients.
Private Attorneys on the other hand don't have near the volume of cases, meaning they have less clients and more time to devote to each individual case.
Lastly is experience.
The world of DUI defense is pretty specialized.
Meaning there is lots of science to it, and other issues that one needs to know and understand.
An experienced DUI Attorney will usually limit their practice to exclusively defending those accused of DUI.
Often times court defenders are right out of law school, or this is their first real job, or they simply don't have the resources to get all the training and education done that an attorney who exclusively practices in a certain area of law can.
Now I personally know many public defenders and I would say a majority of them are very good attorneys who I would not be worried if they represented someone I knew or love.
In fact I was a public defender for many years.
However like all professions there are good ones and there are bad ones.
The legal field is no different, and you may get stuck with someone you don't like.
Remember DUI defense is a pretty specialized field.
In my opinion there are three main differences between hiring your own private DUI Attorney versus going with the court appointed defender.
This is just my opinion and is not meant to be a reflection of the legal field as a whole.
First when you hire your own private DUI Attorney you get to interview as many attorneys as you like and find the one you feel most comfortable with, and who you think will get you the best results.
When someone is appointed a public defender they don't get to interview that attorney, they don't get to try and find the best fit, and they don't get to ask questions about that attorneys experience and what they success rate is.
Once you get assigned a public defender that is who will represent you, and typically no exceptions are made.
Secondly is the size of the caseload between a private DUI Attorney and a public defender.
Often public defenders I have very high caseloads.
Meaning at any given time they could have a couple hundred clients.
Private Attorneys on the other hand don't have near the volume of cases, meaning they have less clients and more time to devote to each individual case.
Lastly is experience.
The world of DUI defense is pretty specialized.
Meaning there is lots of science to it, and other issues that one needs to know and understand.
An experienced DUI Attorney will usually limit their practice to exclusively defending those accused of DUI.
Often times court defenders are right out of law school, or this is their first real job, or they simply don't have the resources to get all the training and education done that an attorney who exclusively practices in a certain area of law can.
Now I personally know many public defenders and I would say a majority of them are very good attorneys who I would not be worried if they represented someone I knew or love.
In fact I was a public defender for many years.
However like all professions there are good ones and there are bad ones.
The legal field is no different, and you may get stuck with someone you don't like.
Remember DUI defense is a pretty specialized field.
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