Thankfully I have never needed criminal defense help. I’ve managed, somehow, to stay out of trouble with the cops. But, I’ll be honest, there any number of times when I could have been busted for any one of several crimes, including driving under the influence, possession of marijuana, theft, property damage, and many other crimes (we all did stupid things when we were young, didn’t we?). That I wasn’t is only pure luck.
But other people I know haven’t been so lucky. And the one person I’m thinking of forms the basis of this article. We’ll call the guy “Chuck” (obviously the names have been changed to protect the presumed innocent). Chuck found himself in a little bit of trouble with the law. He lived in Houston, was 25 or so, and did a lot of the things normal 25 year olds do, including often making stupid decisions.
Chuck was out in Houston one night partying with his buddies. Like most guys his age, he occasionally smoked a little marijuana. He had some on him this night just in case such a situation arose. After partying with his buddies, Chuck decided to drive home. First bad decision of the night. It wasn’t that he was wasted or anything, it’s just that he shouldn’t have been driving.
As bad luck would have it, some old lady runs a stop sign just as Chuck is going through an intersection. She clips Chuck from behind, denting his car. Instead of stopping and exchanging information with the old lady, though, Chuck drives on home. He’s scared because he knows he’s been drinking, and he doesn’t want to get in trouble.
Like you might expect, the cops were soon at Chuck’s house. Not only did they arrest him for hit and run and suspicion of driving while intoxicated (DWI), they also charged him with drug possession for the marijuana they found on him. At this point he was in need of a great Houston criminal lawyer.
The journey tracking down a Houston DWI attorney was a long and arduous one. The hardest thing for Chuck was that he didn’t know how to pick a good one. He’d never needed one before, and everyone was saying they were the best, were dedicated, and all that other stuff. He didn’t know how to differentiate the contenders from the pretenders.
Eventually, though, Chuck came up with a plan. He and I came up with 5 must have qualities for a Houston DWI lawyer, and we’re going to share those with you right now.
1. First Must-Have Houston DWI Attorney Quality – Accessibility
When Chuck starting looking for his criminal defense lawyer, one of the first things he did was look on the internet. Once he found a few good prospects, he started calling around looking to make some appointments to talk and see if they were a good fit. And you know what? More than half didn’t even answer their phones! And when we left a message to have them call us back, the response time was horrendous! And, as you might expect, those attorneys we quickly found out were not the right fit for us.
It’s unrealistic to expect 24/7 access to your Houston DWI lawyer. No one is available all the time. But it’s comforting to know when you call someone will answer the phone and at least set up a time for you to meet with your lawyer. If the people you call can’t get past this first simple step, move on to someone else.
2. Second Must-Have Houston DWI Lawyer Quality – Focus
Chuck told me he quickly learned there were two kinds of criminal lawyers out there. The first kind billed themselves out as a criminal lawyer, that’s all they did. They focused on that day in and day out. The second kind will do criminal law, but they also call themselves an estate planning lawyer, a family lawyer, a business lawyer, an employment attorney, and anything else you might need done.
If the obvious choice out of these two isn’t apparent, then you deserve what you get. The person you want is the person that is doing the work that you need. To put it another way, if you needed a painter for your house, would you hire someone that billed themselves out as a plumber, painter, carpenter, and landscaper, or would you want the guy that just paints? You want the guy that just paints.
Practicing law is a lot like any other profession. There are tricks of the trade. There are “secrets” that you learn over time by being in the mix day in and day out doing what you do. In the case of a lawyer, if you are trying to do all kinds of stuff, it’s impossible for you to become proficient the way that you need to. Bottom line, you can’t be a good Houston criminal defense lawyer unless you are devoting all of your time to that.
3. Third Must-Have Houston DWI Lawyer Quality – Losses
This one may sound a little backward, but you actually want your criminal defense attorney to have some losses under his belt. Why is that? Simple, in the world of criminal defense, you’re going to have some dog cases. I mean, think of the person caught walking a television out of a Best Buy’s broken out window. How do you win that case?
What losses show you is that this guy you are thinking of hiring isn’t afraid to take a case to trial. He’s not afraid to go against all odds and fight for his client. And that’s important, because not only will it give you confidence in them, but the opposing attorneys will know this too, and they’ll consider that when deciding how to resolve your case.
4. Fourth Must-Have Houston DWI Attorney Quality – Comfort
This one is different for everyone, because we’re all different people. But I can tell you when I was with Chuck meeting criminal attorneys with him, there were several that we thought were great attorneys from a professional experience – we were sure they would have done the job right, but we just didn’t feel comfortable with them. And comfort is a must-have quality.
At some point you are going to face a decision – should you take the deal or go to trial? When that decision time comes, you’ll want to have complete trust in your Houston criminal lawyer. You’ll want to be able to tell them what you’re scared of and get their honest assessment of the situation. That level of comfort makes all the difference.
5. Fifth Must-Have Houston DWI Lawyer Quality – Moxie
Let’s face it, to be a criminal defense lawyer, you have to be a little crazy. You have to cut against the grain a little. You have to be able to stare long odds in the face and declare “ready for trial.” What doesn’t win criminal trials is timidity, and you don’t want that in your attorney.
Moxie, or confidence, or whatever you want to call it, takes it’s shape in many different forms. For some people it’s a quiet confidence, an air that they know exactly what is going on. For others it’s a little bit more pronounced. What you’ll want will depend on your individual personality and who you connect with (see quality number 4). But you need someone who doesn’t have any fear. That can go a long way when it comes to a criminal case.
There you have it, five must-have qualities in a Houston DWI attorney. The more of these qualities your lawyer has, I guarantee you the happier you are going to be with the results. Chuck found a guy that had all of these qualities as he defines them, and while he didn’t walk away scot-free, he is comfortable with what happened and will be able to move forward with his life with very little problems. Find these if you need a criminal defense lawyer, and I think you’ll feel the same way.