Tough DWI moment

Had a tough moment this morning. Client is from out of the area, got a DWI here. Relatively minor case. BAC was .10. No priors. This is a routine case where a good NY drunk driving lawyer would expect to get the charges reduced to a DWAI. The consequences are still significant, but it's a violation.Because my client is from out of the area, I had him sign a waiver of appearance letting me take

Speeding Tickets in New York

Just some thoughts on speeding tickets. Got a call this morning. I get calls like this regularly. The caller, from New York City, got a speeding ticket in the Town of Bethlehem. She wanted to know how much to pay. Unlike other states, New York traffic tickets do not list the fine.Here's how it works in New York traffic courts. First you plead -- guilty or not guilty. While the ticket says to

Lawyer marketing on the web

I frequently check who else is marketing themselves on the web in my area. I got a kick today out of this one site - I won't give it an actual link (as that might boost their rankings), but it's legalshield -dot- org. It's a prepaid legal service plan.On their page, they write that their members (i.e. their customers) "receive the best legal council possible."Their use of the word "council" is

Wall Street Journal and Iraq

Today's Wall Street Journal editorial got me going. I sent an letter to the editor, but they never print my letters. Here's what I wrote:Dear Sirs:In today's (11/18) editorial, you repeatedly refer to the lessons of Vietnam. One way you put it is "Don't fight wars you don't intend to win." The biggest lesson of Vietnam was that we should not have gone. Reading your editorial, it would appear you

DWI cases

I seem to be getting more DWI cases lately. I think my website has been doing better, but I'm not sure if that explains it all.I've got three cases pending now where we're actually fighting the charges. In most cases you encourage your clients to take a deal. In two of my cases the clients have DUI charges that are recent enough that any regular plea deal (to DWI or DWAI) would mean loss of a

Personal Injury TV show

Wow I haven't posted in a while. Well, we went on a trip to Los Angeles for a week, so that's a partial excuse. As part of the trip, I "pitched" my idea for a personal injury TV series. I met with eight different companies/agencies at the Screenwriting Expo. I explained my idea for the show, and they seemed to like it. It seemed to help that I have genuine experience as a personal injury lawyer.