Every law firm website says the same adjectives. Aggressive, dedicated, experienced. None of it is checkable, so none of it should move you. What follows is a list of things I actually do, written so that you can hold me to them.
None of these is a promise about how your case ends. That distinction is the whole point of the page, and I come back to it at the bottom.
Here about an injury claim instead? Those cases raise a different set of worries, so they have their own list: what I promise injury clients.
Ten things I commit to
You will know which lawyer is handling your case, and you will have their number.
Not a name on a website and a different face in the courtroom. You will know who is doing the work, and you will be able to reach them without going through three people first.
You will get your license deadline as a date, at our first conversation.
Not “soon” and not “we will look into it.” The window to challenge an administrative suspension is short and runs separately from the criminal case, and you are entitled to know the actual date before you decide anything, including whether to hire me.
I request the video in every case, and I watch all of it.
Not the highlights, not the part the report describes. The whole thing. Video either matches the officer’s report or it does not, and the only way to know is to sit through it. Coverage varies by agency, so part of the job is establishing what exists at all.
I pull the breath instrument’s records, by serial number.
The agency inspections, the department inspections, the operator’s permit, and the machine’s own error and interferent logs, for the specific instrument that tested you. These exist, they are obtainable, and they are where breath cases actually turn.
I read your judge’s published procedures before every setting, and I tell you when being there yourself actually helps.
Florida judges publish how they want motions submitted, what the deadlines are, and whether they permit remote appearance. In many misdemeanor matters a written plea of not guilty waives your appearance and you keep your workday. But some judges plainly prefer to see the person in front of them, and in those courtrooms showing up is worth more to you than the morning it costs. You will get told which kind of setting you are walking into, rather than being made to attend everything to be safe, or having your appearance waived because it is easier for me.
The fee goes in writing, with what is included and what is not.
Whether the administrative hearing is covered, whether motions and depositions are covered, whether trial is a separate fee. A number without that breakdown cannot be compared to anything, which is usually the point of quoting it that way.
Every offer gets explained to you before you decide, and the decision is yours.
What the State is offering, what it actually means for your record, your license and your job, and what I think of it. Usually that is a conversation rather than a letter, because an offer is the moment you will have questions and a document cannot answer a question. If you want it in writing as well, you get it in writing. Then you choose. It is your life, not my case.
I will tell you the weak parts of your case, and whether it needs an expert.
Early, and before you have paid me anything. Where the fight is genuinely about the science a qualified toxicologist is the answer, and I will say so along with what it costs. Most cases do not need one, and I will say that too rather than adding an expense for its own sake. A lawyer who only tells you what you want to hear at the consultation will keep doing it later.
Where it matters, I build a mitigation report.
A structured account of who you are rather than a letter asking for leniency. Prosecutors and judges decide what happens to a person, not to a case number, and almost nobody hands them anything to work with.
No pressure to sign, and if I am not the right lawyer for your case I will say so.
There is real urgency about the license deadline and I will give you the date plainly. That is different from pushing you to decide before you have spoken to anyone else. Go interview other lawyers. Some cases need a different specialty or a bigger firm, and saying that out loud costs me a fee and saves you a great deal more.
What no lawyer can promise you, including me
A result. Not a dismissal, not a reduction, not an acquittal. The Florida Bar’s advertising rules treat any statement a client could reasonably read as a prediction or guarantee of a specific result as inherently misleading, and they are right to. If a lawyer promises you an outcome at the consultation, you have learned something important about that lawyer, and it is not that they are confident.
That knowing the prosecutor decides it. Relationships help with practical things, like getting someone to actually read a packet. They do not decide cases, and a lawyer who leads with connections instead of evidence is telling you where the effort goes.
A timeline. Courts move at their own speed, dockets vary by county, and anyone who tells you your case will be over by a particular month is guessing.
That the cheapest fee buys the same work. Sometimes a lower fee is a newer lawyer building a practice, which can be a perfectly good reason. Sometimes it is a volume practice where nobody watches the video or pulls the maintenance records. The questions worth asking tell you which.
Hold me to it
A list like this is only worth something if it has teeth. If I have told you I would do one of these and it has not happened, say so, to me, directly. Call or text me at (727) 761-4318. I would far rather hear it from you than have you sit on it.
And before you hire anyone, including me, run the questions I would put to a DUI lawyer. My own answers are at the bottom of that page. Ask other firms the same ones and compare what you get.
If you want to talk about your case, call or text me at (727) 761-4318. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Prefer to pick a time rather than call? You can book a free consultation directly, or call or text (727) 761-4318.
