Can anyone recommend a good…but cheap DWI attorney in the upstate NY area for a friend of mine?  This is his second DUI offense, and he really needs a good lawyer…on a small budget.  Thanks, just reply to this post if you can help him out.

Believe it or not, when all is said and done and your driving record goes back to the way it was a few years from now, you will probably have paid as much as $20,000 all told. Between heavy costs such as your bail to get out of jail, the fines you have to pay for your DUI, the cost of running court for your trial, hiring a lawyer, paying for risky high priced car insurance, reinstating your license, maybe losing your job or having to choose a different degree plan, the amount can really add up.

Among the biggest expenses here are bail, insurance, and lawyers. The best way to save money, then, is to hire a cheap NYC DUI lawyer. You may be thinking, wait a second. I want the best representation. But the truth is that the lawyer with the nicest suit and the most high quality ads isn’t always going to be the one who represents you the best.

You need a lawyer with experience, and in many cases such lawyers have a low price scale. Call the New York bar and ask them if they can recommend you a cheap NYC DUI lawyer. Ask around among friends and co workers and family members to see if you can get some names as well.

On your visit to your DUI lawyer in NY, you will need to carry along some information which your lawyer can look at to find where your case stands, how severe it is, and so on. A police report would help, but your memory, if you have it, is also a good source of information. The thing that could make or break your case is the evidence against you, and that is one of the most important things for your DUI lawyer in NY to know about.

Self incrimination is probably one of the worst things you can do, but unfortunately, when you are intoxicated you often can’t think to plead the fifth amendment. If you say how much you have drunk, and it’s a lot, to the police officer who pulls you over, your case is pretty much shut. Another damning piece of evidence would be your blood alcohol level. Now, these tests aren’t always accurate, but when taking into account possibilities such as mouth wash and so on, if you still have a high BAC, you’re in trouble.

Other evidence against you can be less clear and easier to fight against. For example, if you are accused of DUI because you spoke slurred or your eyes were red, or you were driving in zig zags or somehow strangely, then it is easier to contest.

To get the best New York DUI attorney, you have to be willing to do some of your own footwork. Before you head to a consultation, check out a couple of websites on the internet or look at a DUI law book in the library. Spend about thirty minutes doing this, not long, and just familiarize yourself with the basics. This will ensure that you don’t go into the lawyer without enough understanding to know whether or not you’re speaking with someone who knows what they are talking about.

• Experience is key.

The best New York DUI attorney will have significant experience, for at least a few years. It’s important to not just hire any old attorney–you need to hire one who knows about DUI law, which means that at least 50%, but preferably all, of their cases should concern DWI convictions.

• Compatibility.

Price compatibility and personal compatibility will also be a concern when you are choosing a lawyer. You need to hire someone who you are willing to work with and who doesn’t charge beyond your budget, which is probably already stretched from all of this.

Sometimes a New York DWI attorney is completely optional, and a perserving person could do just as well in their case without one. If you’re looking to save some money on your already extremely expensive DUI costs, and your offense is not quite as serious as others, then you might be able to make do without hiring an attorney and come out all right. Consult with one first, though, and realize that if you go it alone, it will require a lot of hard work.

It’s possible you need a New York DWI attorney if…

• you need someone to explain to you what your rights are in terms of DUI law
• you need someone to explain to you what laws you have broken and what DUI law says about this
• you need someone to determine the severity of your case and tell what kinds of punishments you are going to receive
• your work requires that you have bonding
• being convicted criminally will mean that you will be kicked out of school, denied a professional license, and so on.

A notch below that last level of seriousness is yet another, where your need for hiring a NY DWI lawyer is not quite as strong. All the same, it would be in your best interest to hire one anyway, and if you choose not to you have a lot against you and would have to rely on luck. Speak with a lawyer in a free consultation to find out if your case falls into this category. The following are some examples of those that do.

You PROBABLY need an NY DWI lawyer if you meet the following criteria…

• You’ve had a DUI conviction on your record before, regardless of its severity. This will come with different and worse punishments, and different insurance requirements sometimes, too.
• Part of your DUI offense included endangering a minor, meaning that you had someone under the age of 18 in your vehicle with you when you were pulled over under suspicion of DUI.
• When your blood alcohol level was tested, it came out to be twice the amount of the legal limit.

Not everyone needs a New York DUI lawyer, though, so you have to take a look at the circumstances of your case in order to see whether you need to bother or not. Of course, it’s always the best for you to actually talk to a lawyer to find out the severity of your case first, but even so I can give you a little spoiler of what’s to come. At the most serious level, which I will address here, you definitely will need to have the services of a New York DUI lawyer. No excuses.

You NEED a DUI lawyer if any of the following describes you.

• you received your DUI because of a car accident. The more serious the accident, the worse it is for you. Severe damage is bad enough, but when injuries and especially deaths come into play, you are treading very dangerous ground and could end up locked away for awhile without representation.
• you have a long list of previous DUI offenses that will make it extremely difficult to defend you against yet another one. If you’re on your third DUI, you fall into this category.
• driving is integral to your job, and if you are not allowed to drive legally, then you coule lose your employment.

Most people don’t think about a New York DUI attorney while they’re in the midst of things. They expect to spend maybe a couple of days in jail and then be out, pay a fine and so on, but many don’t realize the huge fines and punishments that the state of New York imposes on drunk drivers. A New York DUI attorney can help you lighten those and also get a lot of the burden off of your shoulders. Here’s a list of a couple of things a lawyer can do for you.

• Teach.

You probably don’t really know what being convicted of a DUI means except on a very basic level. Lawyers knowledgeable of DUI law can explain it as it pertains to you, what laws you broke and how serious they were, and what kinds of consequences you’re up against. They can tell you what level of difficulcy your case will have and what your chances are if you hire them.

• Make it easy.

DUI convictions aren’t just about the court date. There’s a lot of other boring stuff that goes along with that, such as paperwork and scheduling. A lawyer can do all this for you.

• Defend.

Most of all, a lawyer can defend your case before the judge and try to get you either completely off, or at least not punished quite as bad.