When you’re facing a DUI or other similar charge, you want to know that you have experienced and professional lawyers on your side. You want to be able to trust your legal representation to work with you and keep you informed, and you also want to know that the lawyers involved have the professional acumen to fight for your rights under the law.

Part of that involves these dedicated criminal defense attorneys understanding the legal context of their environment, and the state in which they’re working through the justice system.

Individual U.S. states are different – they have their own laws, and their own legal outcomes and precedents. The best criminal defense lawyers have a detailed knowledge of state law, and work within those parameters to advance the best interests of their clients.

DUI Rates by County

For instance, there is a chance your Florida criminal defense attorney will keep an eye on DUI conviction rates by County. This data is publicly available, and when you look, you see that counties have widely differing ratios of convictions for DUI. That can help to inform an individual case in its venue and jurisdiction.

“Reduce and Dismiss” Pathways

In general, your professional criminal defense attorney team will be looking for pathways toward two opportunities. One will be reducing and mitigating the charges against you. For instance, creating an outcome where the court allows you to keep a driver’s license is a major win in these types of cases, and greatly affects the defendant’s financial health and livelihood.

The team will also be looking for pathways toward dismissing a case entirely. Maybe not everything was done by the book. Maybe the defendant did not have all the advantages and opportunities to which he or she was entitled! This fact-finding benefits many of those facing a DUI charge in court. 

Listening … and Informing

Through all of these processes, the best criminal defense lawyers will take the time to listen to their clients, and then be responsive, answering their questions and informing them as they go.

You don’t have to be in this business that long to understand that these defendants are typically upset and frightened. Most of them don’t really know what the outcomes will be, and they rely on the attorneys to give them solid guidance and certain types of counsel, while providing a listening ear. Really, in a key sense, it’s a people profession and lawyers need to have good people skills.

For more, take a look at the practice areas covered by Hutchison & Tubiana, your legal resource in the Florida Keys.