Being arrested for a DUI can be overwhelming, and even more so if you’ve never hired an attorney before. You know you need one, but how do you know which DUI attorney is the right one for you? Reynolds Defense Firm focuses all of our time and expertise on one very small area of the law, and we do it very well – we represent good people facing DUI charges.

While we are a nationally recognized law firm, we understand we have readers who aren’t in Oregon.  This advice is for you too!  To give you a bit of background about Reynolds Defense Firm, we work primarily in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas Counties. Our attorneys have a combined 60 years of local Oregon DUI law experience, both on the prosecution and the defense sides, and we are second to none.  No matter where you are, when you’re hiring an attorney for a DUI arrest, there are 4 main criteria to look for:

Tip #1 – Look For Specialization

You want to make sure that your lawyer specializes in Criminal Defense at the very least and preferably in DUI Defense. DUI laws are complicated, so you don’t want an attorney that does a little bit of everything because how can they be the best at everything? I’d rule out all firms that don’t specialize exclusively on DUI and Criminal Defense. There is a reason brain surgeons don’t do heart transplants. Law is the same way – specialization allows you to hire the best attorney in their field.

Tip #2 – Look For Your Attorney’s Level of Experience

How long has this person been doing Criminal Defense of DUI Defense? Has this attorney or someone in their law firm ever been a prosecutor? I know that my experience as a District Attorney helps our firm and our clients every day. It allows our team to better understand where the DA’s and police officers are coming from. This helps us to better craft our strategies for how to move forward with the clients case with strength and success. I’d personally rule out attorneys with less than 5 years of experience and those without a prosecutor background to give them better perspective.

Tip #3 – Research how long this DUI Attorney or law firm has been in business

Running a business is challenging and complicated with many moving parts. Many criminal defense attorneys don’t understand or appreciate that and because of that, they often don’t do a good job managing the business portion of their firm. This can affect their clients negatively in lots of different ways.

When making a hiring decision, you’ll want your lawyer to focus their time on you and your case, not the 100 other things required to run a business instead. You don’t want your attorney to choose between working on your case or answering the phone when potential new clients are calling. The last thing I’d want to do is hire a lawyer whose business is so chaotic that he or she can’t focus all their attention on their clients. At Reynolds Defense Firm our attorneys focus 100% of their time on their clients and the cases they are working on so that they can do the best job possible without distractions.

Tip #4 – Evaluate Customer Service

The final thing is customer service. Pay attention to your interactions with the law firm staff and attorney before you hire them. Are you treated with respect? Are they willing to answer your questions and listen to you? Can they spend the time necessary to help you understand the process? Trust your instincts. If I had any concerns about giving my complete trust to this DUI attorney and law firm, I’d keep looking. Because when you hire someone to represent you on a DUI arrest, you are giving them complete trust.  It can have an effect on your life, your family, and even your career.  It’s pretty important, and you want to be absolutely sure that you’re hiring someone that you feel comfortable talking to.