People ask what a lawyer costs. The more useful question is what a conviction costs, because that is the number a defense is measured against. Answer two questions and this lays it out.
Which charge are you facing?
Pick the row that matches. If you are not sure whether a prior counts, that is a real question and it changes everything below.
Why the insurance line is the whole story
Look at where the money actually sits. The fine is set by statute and it is the small number. The large one is the FR-44, the high liability insurance certificate Florida requires for three years after a DUI conviction. It requires far higher liability limits than ordinary coverage, and the premium difference runs for the full three years whether or not you drive much.
That is why a reduction to reckless driving is worth so much more than the change in the charge name suggests. A reduction generally takes the FR-44 requirement, the ignition interlock, and the impound off the table at once. Nearly all of the cost on this page goes with them.
It is also why the science matters. A breath or blood number that cannot be defended is what stands between a client and that reduction, and taking it apart is the work described in the breath test and blood test sections, and in the diversion programs that end in a reduction by design.
From the blog: the part of a DUI conviction nobody warns you about.
