Joe Suhre | December 19, 2016 | Criminal Law

DUI lawyers, like many things, come in various forms. Some DUI lawyers are known for their ‘take no prisoner’ aggressive style. They challenge everything from the obvious to the questionable. Then there are the ‘plea only’ DUI lawyers – the ones that no matter how good the case for their client will try to convince them to take a plea offer.

Then there’s the middle of the road attorney. The one who is careful to evaluate the case thoroughly and to investigate all possible defenses. This attorney will be appropriately aggressive and at the same time not pick an unnecessary fight. When they do tell the prosecutor that they have a problem with their case, the prosecutor will take them seriously (as opposed to the needlessly aggressive attorney who claims a ‘problem’ with every aspect of the government’s case).

Which one is right for you? Who is the Top DUI Lawyer for your case? It’s easy to eliminate one type of attorney – the one who only does pleas. That attorney is an easy one to avoid and he or she should be avoided at all cost. The problem is they’re cheap and many times people are making a decision about their lawyer based on cost. This is a critical mistake. In many instances, you have only one chance to deal with this DUI and it better be right. Hiring an attorney based on cost alone will consistently result in poor outcomes.

The choice between the other two isn’t as simple. There is a time and place for aggressiveness, but in my opinion it has to be tempered with reasonableness. Sometimes the best thing to do is to review all the weaknesses in a case and negotiate the best outcome possible. Sometimes the right thing to do is to have a motion to suppress and then a jury trial. I don’t believe there is an all or nothing answer to DUI defense. I think that to be a Top DUI Lawyer, you have to possess the confidence to exploit the weaknesses in the government’s case and the temperament to know when to fight and when to not to. Like anything else in life, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.