Please, call an attorney before you take action on your next traffic ticket. Believe it or not, we often get calls from prospective clients who have irreparably harmed their case because they did not call an attorney and took action on their own first. The prospective client tells us the facts of their case and we get excited because we know we can help, except then the prospective client continues to tell us how they have unwittingly waived one of their best arguments or otherwise foreclosed an excellent defense.

One of the most common examples of a defendant waiving an excellent argument deals with photo enforcement tickets. All too often, the defendant tells us they have not been served, and we think “fantastic!”, but then the defendant goes on to tell us how they have contacted the court and thereby waived personal service, and we think “oh no!” We have handled a ton of photo enforcement cases, and we win a lot of those cases by challenging service; it is one of the best arguments. When a defendant waives service, the chance of successfully fighting the ticket, and avoiding the fine and points on your driver’s license, go down.

Another common call we receive is the, “I pled guilty to XYZ 3 years ago. Can you undo that now?” No, we cannot. We cannot go back in time. Often, had the caller contacted us before pleading, we might have discussed opportunities to improve the situation, but after the fact, there is rarely anything we can do — and if anything is still possible, it is typically more expensive, with a dramatically reduced likelihood of success.

Even if you end up not hiring us, we are still happy to speak with you about your case so that you may at least make a more informed decision on how to proceed. We handle traffic violation and criminal defense cases every day; you don’t. Odds are we are more familiar with the laws related to your case than you are, so why not call an attorney and take advantage of our knowledge?

We hope you are never involved in a court case, but if you are, call an attorney first and get educated. Even if we do not know the answer, odds are that we know someone who will.