Legal Fees in Your Georgia DUI Case: What you should expect From Us (And Any Other Georgia DUI Attorney)

When you retain our office in your Georgia DUI case, we will agree upon the total expenses that you will pay us for representation in your Georgia DUI case. We do not charge DUI clients on an hourly basis. You will not have to worry about receiving a billing statement with an astronomical number of hours being assessed to you. We may well spend an astronomical amount of time on your case, but that is what we expect and your costs will not vary as a result of those efforts. We do not charge you for phone calls or the time that we spend writing you case update letters. The fee that we agree upon in writing is guaranteed to be all of the fees that you will pay to our office throughout your Georgia DUI case.

Some clients may qualify for a payment plan. We reserve the right to refuse to accept installment payments from any client. Do not be offended by this. We are not in the business of bill collecting. Our Georgia DUI lawyers enjoy aggressively pursuing the defense of DUI cases. We do not enjoy spending time talking with clients about outstanding bills, and we have adopted this policy to ensure that most of our time is spent on your DUI case.

When you meet with our office to discuss your DUI case, we will address your concerns, answer your questions, and we will provide you with an evaluation of your case based upon the facts you provide.  We do not charge for this initial consultation.

We make it clear that our fees are not the cheapest that you will be quoted.  We have never intended to be the cheapest or highest volume DUI defense firm.  Instead, we intend to provide the greatest value to each and every client in our office.

Our fees in DUI cases are very straightforward.

When you retain our office for representation of you your DUI case, you receive detailed and personalized service at every stage of your DUI case, including at a jury trial if you choose.  Specifically, you will receive the following services in your DUI case:

1.       We will request a hearing upon your administrative license suspension (ALS). This is commonly called the 10-day letter.

2.     Representation of you at the ALS hearing. We will ensure that a transcript is made of the officer's testimony at the ALS so that the testimony can later be used in the defense of your criminal case.

6.    Reviewing discovery provided by the state. If audio or video recordings exist, we do our best to arrange for you to have access to these recordings.

7.     Representing you at a hearing upon your motions.

8.    Trial (jury or non-jury).

In certain cases, it is possible to obtain a dismissal or a reduction of a DUI charge prior to trial by contesting issues such as the illegality of your stop, the illegality of the "seizure," and the incorrectness of the implied consent advisement.  After we meet with you and discuss the facts of your DUI case, we can provide you with an assessment of whether a fee that would provide you with our services through a motions hearing will be beneficial to you.  In the event that you retain us to represent you at a motions hearing and that hearing is unsuccessful but you decide that you would like a jury trial, we will honor the jury trial fee that we quote you at the outset of the representation.  Like a trial fee, a motions fee does not include any appeal from the trial court's denial of any motions.  A motions fee also does not include expenses such as court reporter fees, transcript costs, or expert witness fees.

Setting fees in a criminal case is, in large part, a pretty random event from lawyer to lawyer. The State Bar of Georgia bars criminal defense lawyers from setting fees on a contingency basis. That is, we accept representation with the understanding that we will only recover a fee if we successfully conclude the case. Every criminal defense lawyer in the Georgia must set a fee that remains the same whether the case is won or lost.

If you are engaging the services of a DUI lawyer in the State of Georgia, get a written fee agreement with the lawyer.  There are times whenever I have had difficulty getting a client to sign a written fee agreement. Generally, there is a good reason why clients reticent to sign a fee agreement.  Likewise, if a lawyer will not provide you with a written fee agreement, be very cautious. It is not good for either the client or the lawyer to make an attempt to avoid getting a fee agreement in writing.

License Reinstatement, Probation Enlistment, and Life After Your DUI Case