Danger of Hiring an Inexperienced Traffic Attorney
The Virginia State Bar wants me to tell you that EACH CASE DEPENDS UPON THE FACTS OF THE CASE. PAST CASES DON’T PREDICT FUTURE RESULTS.
I say it all the time: hire an attorney who regularly handles cases like yours in your court.
Even if an attorney has been practicing for 30 years and has successfully handled lots of traffic cases in a nearby county, he may not know how to get the best result in YOUR case.
What can happen if you hire someone who doesn’t know the local court and the specifics of traffic defense? Here’s an example that I recently saw in a local General District Court.
The judge called a case, and an attorney walked up. He introduced himself as being from two counties away. Nearby, but not local.
The attorney presented the client’s driving record and asked the judge to send his client to driving school to reduce his reckless driving ticket.
The judge responded that Virginia law won’t allow it in that case because the client had a CDL (commercial driver’s license). The attorney was shocked, and the judge convicted his client of reckless driving.
I’ll bet the attorney will appeal the case for a new trial in Circuit Court. And he may be able to obtain a better result on appeal by working with the Commonwealth’s Attorney.
However, here’s the point: due to a lack of knowledge of basic traffic defense and the local court, this driver was convicted of reckless driving. This is a case that most likely could have been resolved favorably in the General District Court by working out an agreement with the officer.
I know that I’m “Monday morning quarterbacking” here. And you should know that no attorney can guarantee a result in court. But I stand by my position that an experienced, local traffic attorney who regularly handles cases like yours in your court is the best choice to get a good result.
Photo by spcbrass
