If you’ve recently been pulled over and charged with driving while impaired (DWI), you’ve probably heard many people giving you the advice that you need to hire an attorney. While this is good advice, one of the questions that most people will ask is how much will a DWI Lawyer Davenport IA cost you.
If you’ve been charged with a crime, you will always have access to a public defender free of charge. However, because of the exceptionally high workload most public defenders have with other cases, it’s unlikely that you’re going to get the best representation from a public defender. That’s why you need to consider hiring an attorney. Here are some of the costs associated with a DUI lawyer.
Some attorneys will charge a flat fee for their services. This is a one-time price that you pay regardless of how long it takes for your case to come to a resolution. Sometimes, your case will require to go to court and other times, you can typically reach a plea bargain, which can help you avoid a lengthy court trial.
However, it’s important to understand that attorneys often have different flat fees for cases that are plead out, and higher fees for cases that go to court. Before you agree to any attorney to represent you, its important to understand if they use this particular fee structure.
The next type of billing an attorney will use is by the hour billing. If your case is long and drawn out, this can end up costing you a great deal of money. It’s also important to remember that every interaction you have your attorney will be billed to you.
In some cases, an attorney will break up the time into 6 to 10 minute increments. For example, if you have a two-minute conversation with your attorney, depending on how they break up their billing, you will be charged for either 6 or 10 minute of their time. The smaller the increments that an attorney uses the more you can save on their services, especially if the case is a lengthy one.
