There are about 135,000 lawyers in California. About 10,000 of them will take your money to represent you in a drunk driving case. Mr. Edward R. Torrence is one of only about 225 California lawyers that are serious enough about this area of the law to join the California Deuce Defenders.

 Mr. Torrence is committed to staying abreast of statute changes, developing case law and is recognized as a leader in the field.

Mr. Torrence is one of only 1200 attorneys who own a copy of California Drunk Driving Law. It is agreed among experienced attorneys in the field of drunk driving that a lawyer cannot do a competent job of defending people accused of drunk driving without a copy.

1.  Be sure that the attorney you hire, will be the attorney who will actually handle the case in court.

You probably want to be personally represented by a big-name, widely respected and experienced attorney. However, simply hiring such an attorney doesn't mean he or she will personally handle your case. Attorney's sometimes hire associates - attorney employees. The best lawyers sometimes have an associate that works directly with them on cases. These associates are more like an assistant to the big name. However, if an associate is directly handling your case, be sure it's only at routine uncontested court hearings and definitely not at a trial without your consent. Even then, the associate must be well-trained, closely supervised and highly experienced.

With partners, it's a different story. If the other attorney is a partner of the big name, that person is more likely to be a real ace in their own right. A partner, as opposed to an associate, shares ownership of the law firm, and has a bigger stake in its reputation. Big names don't partner up with someone that isn't an equal, or nearly so.

2.  Ask your attorney, "Will my case be dismissed and what is a wet reckless?"

Dismissal of all DUI charges is a routine procedure when the defendant plea bargains for a reduced charge, such as alcohol related reckless driving, also known as "wet reckless." When that happens, all drunk driving charges are dismissed and the client pleads guilty to the freshly added lesser charge.

If an attorney claims that drunk driving charges have often been dismissed for his or her clients, ask if those clients were convicted of anything else instead. A wet reckless for first offenders conviction is nearly as bad as a drunk driving conviction. It counts as a prior offense if you're arrested again later, and much of the punishment is the same as for drunk driving. Insurance companies know what it is and will increase premiums accordingly; you will be in assigned risk category. Of course, it can still be a good deal for some clients, especially those who already have prior offenses on their records. That is because there's no increased penalty for reckless driving based upon previous convictions of drunk driving. However, you do not hire a good lawyer to get a wet reckless for a first offense, at least not when you have a good case.

3.  Beware of dump-truck lawyers who plead guilty to nearly all of their cases.

"Dump truck" is what lawyers call other lawyers who mostly just plead their clients guilty, instead of trying cases. Unfortunately, there are a large number of them out there. They can be spotted in several ways. Any lawyer that quickly leads the conversation into talk about plea-bargaining, so it seems that is the primary focus, is suspect (unless there is several prior convictions or a high alcohol reading). Another sign of the dump truck is promises to get it all taken care of quickly with the least inconvenience on your part. One such attorney advertises, "NO COURT APPEARANCES, NO TIME OFF WORK." You can't fight the charges that way. Not surprisingly, his ad also says, "LOW COST."  

Dump truck lawyers often run DUI mills with a large number of associate attorneys, or worse yet, attorneys that are hired on a per-appearance basis. They are paid maybe $100 each time they go to court. One sure sign of the dump truck is a low retainer fee, either alone or coupled with a comparatively astronomical trial fee. Ask up front how much the daily trial fee is. A reasonable fee, one designed to adequately compensate the attorney for hours of trial preparation as well as 8 to 10 or more hours per day during the trial itself, is between $1000 and $2500 per day. Such a fee is reasonable without being primarily intended to discourage clients from pursuing a trial.

On the other hand, some attorneys include the trial fee in the initial retainer. If your case is likely to be tried, this can save you a lot of money since the practice usually is that all similarly situated clients pay the same retainer and many of their cases aren't tried. This allows the attorney to reduce the trial portion of the fee considerably.

Ask how many trials each of the firm's lawyers tried in the past year. Though the number varies from county to county, a skilled drunk driving defense attorney will try at least 6 to 10 or more cases per year and will win at least half of them. Count a "not guilty" verdict on all counts as a win. A hung jury with a great plea bargain deal afterwards is also a win. No plea bargain without a trial is ever counted as a win. If the lawyer got the deal without a trial, think how much better a deal he could have gotten with a trial.

4.  Do not hire a good lawyer in order to plead guilty at the first court appearance.

A quick guilty plea at the first court appearance may occasionally be justified. Good lawyers prefer not to accept cases for clients who just want to plead guilty with a attorney by their side. Dump trucks do that routinely, but good DUI attorneys won't take a case like that unless it is a first offense with a high blood alcohol result and the client just wants a quick review and advice. This service takes two to four hours, including the time spent with you on the phone and in the office. This service is worth about five hundred dollars.

5.  Evaluate, if it would it be best to hire a local attorney who is friendly with the judge and prosecutor.

Once again, there are pros and cons which probably balance out. But if the attorney makes it a major selling point, one begins to wonder if there is anything more substantial that the attorney has to offer.

6.  Ask your attorney, "Will the judge be upset with me if I hire a lawyer and fight the charges instead of pleading guilty?"

The constitution prohibits punishing you for asserting your right to a trial. Despite the constitution though, a very small number of judges do threaten greater penalties later for not pleading guilty early. This tactic often works with less experienced attorneys. Other attorneys can call the judge's bluff, outsmart him or her, or arrange for a different judge to handle the case.

Like most judges, those handling misdemeanors are extremely puffed up with their own importance. On top of that, the meanest of these judges are often those that have been stuck for eternity handling traffic tickets and misdemeanors, because their colleagues recognize their intellectual limitations. Combine a huge ego with incompetence, and you have a person who replaces hard knowledge with bluster and intimidation. A good lawyer, armed with a solid background in the law and a willingness to challenge this type of judge, can often prevail over even the worst of them.  After all,  that is what you hire a good lawyer for.

If you feel like you'll just never be able to get rid of the knot in your stomach that shows up when you question authority and you're too frightened to fight the charges in spite of that knot, you'll have to plead guilty . . . even if you aren't. It takes courage to have things your way. Sometimes it takes a lot of it.