Choosing the right DUI lawyer may be the most important decision you make in your drunk driving case. Too many lawyers think that they can just jump right into defending DUI cases without first studying the complexities and nuances of DUI law. In fact there are many materials that an attorney will want to obtain and study in great depth before handling a drunk driving case. Before hiring a California DUI attorney make sure that he or she has the following three items. If the attorney does not have these items, run away!1. Drunk Driving Defense by Lawrence Taylor. This is the “bible” of DUI defense. Lawrence Taylor is probably the most respected DUI attorney in the United States. His book, Drunk Driving Defense, is a must for any attorney defending drunk driving cases. It lays out the major defenses that may be available to you in your case. If your attorney has this book then he or she is probably serious DUI attorney and not someone just dabbling in this area of the law. On the other hand, if your attorney only knows Lawrence Taylor as a former Philadelphia Eagle then find another lawyer2. Training Manuals for Standardized Field Sobriety Tests. These manuals include the NHTSA manual and your state manual for training law enforcement officers in conducting standardized field sobriety tests. Any attorney defending drunk driving cases needs to be an expert on Standardized Field Sobriety Tests. With these manuals, a knowledgeable DUI lawyer can show that many officers simply do not perform the standardized field sobriety tests under optimal conditions which can drastically throw off the reliability of the tests. Many people charged with drunk driving may not show any signs of intoxication yet still “fail” the tests. You need a DUI lawyer who has the training manuals and understands these tests better than the officer that arrested you for DUI. Without these manuals an attorney simply cannot effectively cross examine the officer about these tests.3. Intoximeter/Breathalyzer Manual – Your attorney should have the manual for the operation and use of the breathalyzer machine that is used in your case. Machines can and do break down. And sometimes they simply are not operated correctly by the officer administering the breathalyzer. Your attorney needs to understand how the breathalyzer in your case works, so that they know if and how the reliability of the machine can be attacked for your defense. When an attorney can attack both the standardized field sobriety tests and the breathalyzer, then that attorney will be successful when the average attorney would get beat.
