Reporter Exposes California DUI Lawyer Practices

An investigative reporter for California
Lawyer magazine, a professional publication for all members of the California
State Bar, has recently delved into the practices of California DUI attorneys.
 In the magazine's cover article, titled "The DUI Defense Bar," reporter Tom
McNichol took a hard and long-overdue look at the good, the bad and the ugly
among DUI lawyers:

         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 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. Top expert witnesses with
         national reputations can easily push the total cost closer to
         $20,000.

         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.


         These DUI mills typically offer a lowball rate to clients, and they
         tend to give commensurate service. One California attorney who
         advertises his "cheap DUI defense" widely on the Internet pitches
         prospective clients: "We do the same thing over and over again. There
         is simply no reason to spend thousands of dollars on your defense. We
         charge about half of the going rate."...


McNichol then took a look at the other end of the professional scale, focusing
on Los Angeles DUI lawyer Lawrence Taylor, known nationally as the "Dean of
DUI Attorneys" and author of the standard text on the subject, Drunk Driving
Defense :

         By punching enough holes in the prosecution's case, a good DUI lawyer
         can, if not exonerate a client, then at least knock the charge down
         to what's known in the trade as a "wet reckless"--an alcohol-related
         reckless driving offense.

         This is where defendants often get from their lawyers what they pay
         for. At the Law Offices of Lawrence Taylor, Inc.--where attorneys
         devoted exclusively to DUI cases charge top dollar--blood and urine
         samples are routinely reanalyzed; breathalyzer maintenance,
         calibration, and administration are investigated; and sometimes the
         scene of an arrest is revisited. Taylor's firm also boasts a support
         staff that includes a forensic toxicologist who once did DUI testing
         for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's crime lab, a former hearing
         officer for the DMV, and a former police officer who was on the Santa
         Ana department's DUI task force. That's a far cry from the firms
         where lawyers, by their own admission, "do the same thing over and
         over again."


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