Chicago DUI Advice | DUI | DUI Resources | DUI Articles


SR22 Chicago
June 4, 2009, 1:57 pm
Filed under: DUI | Tags: , , ,

One of the unfortunate things about being charged with a DUI in any state, is the necessity of SR22 insurance once you are ready to start driving again.  We’re here to make it easy for you to make this decision if you have ever run into trouble with the law regarding drinking and driving.

Certain companies will offer SR22 insurance with rates that rocket through the roof, however some Chicago SR22 companies specialize in high risk auto insurance.  You may remember Lincoln Auto Insurance from their rediculous TV commercials, and if you stay up late enough, you may even catch one today!  But, they are a pretty safe bet for low cost SR22 insurance.  There are many other competitors, but Lincoln has it down.

And remember, the cost of your SR22 has a lot to do with the circumstances regarding your specific situation, which is why it’s best to get ahold of them yourself and explain your situation so they can provide you with a unique SR22 solution.

Leave a Comment


Marketing Your Law Firm Online
May 26, 2009, 1:55 pm
Filed under: DUI | Tags: , , , , , , ,

We end up with what seems like hundreds of legal clients each month, providing internet marketing services to them to help get more leads for cases. We figured we’d help you understand what exactly this entails, just in case any of you are considering hiring an internet marketing company to help promote your law firm online.

First let’s go over what improving organic rankings can do for your law firm, and what they can not do.

1. Organic SEO takes a lot of time when you are competing with hundreds of people for the same keywords. A city such as Chicago or Seattle will have hundreds of law firms optimizing their websites for the same keywords. Basic logic tells us that this will be a difficult task. The top 10 results for most big cities, are large law firms with a lot of exposure. Perhaps they are frequently quoted in the paper, or they have high profile cases. Offline marketing helps your online marketing. So a law firm with zero offline marketing will find it hard to rank competitively with large law firms in big cities.

2.  If you do happen to practice in a large city, do not go into internet marketing if you do not have the budget for it.  I see it happen so many times, where a lawyer gets the idea that if he hires an internet marketing company, his world will change.  If your law firm is on the brink of non-existence, you are taking a huge risk if you outsource your SEO to an internet marketing company.   Chances are, the initial costs won’t be enough to lift your rankings (unless your initial costs included things like press releases or recoding from an archaic web standard).

I guess what I want you to take away from this…is set realistic expectations for yourself, and if you are hurting in a down economy, think before you spend for internet marketing.  It is an ongoing service that requires constant attention, and a heavy investment of time and money.

-Jeremy Nelson

Leave a Comment


Sir Charles Barkley’s DUI Adventure in Arizona
March 9, 2009, 7:57 pm
Filed under: DUI, DUI News | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Sir Charles Barkley XIV was released earlier today after serving a three day sentence in an Arizona Jail.  With so much attention given to celebrities who have been arrested, many observers wait with a salivating anticipation as the judge issues the sentence.  With the media’s attention all over Charles Barkley like a fat kid on a twinkie, they clamor for the celebrities head.  A three day incarceration for such a crime seems a steep penalty.

The judges who sentence celebrities have to feel an immense pressure to not make it look as if they are giving celebrities any kind of special treatment.  However, they can go too far, as is the case with Sir Charles Worthington Barkley XII, and his three days in an Arizona Jail.  The judge no doubt, felt a pressure to enforce the law, and in a move that would encarcelate our savior, he put the Bark in jail for DUI.

Charles Barkley Ponders Quantum Mechanics

Charles Barkley Ponders Quantum Mechanics

Leave a Comment


I’ve Got A DUI…Now What?
January 20, 2009, 9:41 pm
Filed under: DUI, DUI Tips | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

College students and congressmen alike can find unity in a common trait.  One that stains their driving and criminal record and supposedly hurts their employment prospects.  (Well I guess congressmen needn’t worry about that one).  The first thing racing through many peoples minds when faced with a charge of driving under the influence is:  “Now what?  What’s going to happen?  My parent’s are going go kill me!”.

You don’t have to stress yourselves out.  Yes, your parents will be disappointed.  But in most cases I’ve seen, it’s not the angry wrath that you feel coming from your parent, but disappointment.  It’s going to be very hard to tell your parents what happened.  I find that the best way to minimize the reaction is to send it through a lengthy email.  That will give them time to react to the situation in their head instead of reacting off the cuff over the phone or in person.  They will get their thoughts together before they call you.

As soon as you have told your parents, or your citizens (looking at you congressmen), then you have to face the legal system.  A DUI is looked at very seriously by state governments because of the cases that involve loss of life.  So, you should get an experienced DUI lawyer to assist you.

The most important thing, and I can’t stress this enough, is GET YOUR FINES TAKEN CARE OF!  Also, make sure you attend any classes they recommend, and get community service out of the way as soon as possible.  Procrastination can really hurt you when it’s time for your review and you still have 50 hours of service to the community.

Be prepared to go a long time without a license.  In Iowa, the punishment is 6 months without a license for your first offense.  Obey the law!  The judge will have no sympathy for you if you are caught driving with a suspended license, EVEN IF YOU HAVE FULFILLED EVERYTHING ELSE!  The judge will look at your file, and say.  “Well you’ve completed your service, you’ve paid your fines…looks to me like the only thing is your law violation. “  The judge will see this as an aggravated offense, since you willingly drove without a license.  Judges can be forgiving on initial DUI’s because they can identify and say you weren’t aware you were over the legal limit, however for driving with a suspended license they see that as “I know i’m not supposed to do it, but I’m doing it anyway”.

There, hopefully this helps out anyone in this case with some pointers.

Leave a Comment


Everybody DUI Now
January 13, 2009, 4:09 pm
Filed under: DUI, DUI News | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

As I have wrote previously, I believe that the media portrayal of what the authorities call “driving under the influence” is severly out of line with the way it should be treated.  We’re all guilty of it at one point in our lives, so it’s no surprise when we hear of people who have gotten arrested for DUI.  Just recently, San Diego Chargers receiver Vincent Jackson was arrested for a DUI.  That’s not all, the doctor who operated on Kanye West’s mom was also arrested for driving under the influence.

That said, there are a couple of conclusions we could draw from this.

1.  DUI’s are not as big of a deal as they are made out to be, and the punishment does not fit the crime.

or

2.  The moral fabric of society is decaying and the fact that we hear about it so much in the news means that something must be done.

Certainly a very philosophical argument can be made for either one of these sides.  One maintains that the government is too restrictive on what should be allowed.  Who are they to dictate what is permissible if I am well within my personal limit?  A .08 to me very well may be similar to the effects of a standard .03 to somebody else.  Given that a tolerance for alcohol exists, it’s inaccurate to judge based on such a fallible metric.  The other holds a more subjective view that we shouldn’t be questioning the authority as it is, because it is morally sound.  It holds that there are numerous lives saved because of the proactive policing efforts in DUI cases.  These people say justify pulling somebody over at 3:AM for a broken tail light are doing so, not to be mean, but because that person may well be wanted for murder, or maybe he is intoxicated and would’ve gotten into a collision.
However you want to think about it, there are always at least two sides to every situation.

Leave a Comment


2009 DUI News
January 5, 2009, 4:10 pm
Filed under: DUI, DUI News | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The new year is upon us, and now we all have resolutions that will hopefully make us better people.  Maybe to cut down on the drinking and driving?   (Hey, this is a DUI resource after all, I had to!)

Anyways, the police were out in full force on New Years Eve, pulling in their share of drunken and disorderly people.  I hope none of you were involved in anything!  I happened to notice a nice initiative taken by the CTA while I was on the bus on New Years Day.  It was a poster that advertised public transit rides were only a PENNY on New Years Eve from 8PM to 6AM the next day.  I have to salute the Transit Authority on this one, I’m sure that this initative cut down on many potential arrests and possibly saved some people from a collision.

But DUI’s apparantly aren’t the only thing police are looking for on New Years Eve.  Chicago police confiscated 75 guns overnight as police officers cracked down on what they referred to as “celebratory gunfire”.   This is clearly a cause for concern, as within the first half hour of the new year in 2009, 262 people phoned in to report gunfire in their neighborhoods from Midnight to 12:30AM on Jan 1, 2009.   Wow, is all I can say.

The good news is that, it was a relatively safe New Years, and there were no fatal alcohol related collisions.

Leave a Comment


DUI Advice | Iowa DUI Laws
January 2, 2009, 4:33 pm
Filed under: DUI, DUI Tips | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

You don’t have to sacrifice a clean criminal record if you are pulled over on suspicion of driving while under the influence.  I see many people who are coerced into performing field sobriety tests by the arresting officer, who makes it seem like the defendant has little if any choice but to cooperate with the officer.

This is NOT TRUE!

I’m not one for making up statistics, but 99% of the clients I represent would have been much better off, had they refused the field sobriety tests at the arrest.  The officer makes you feel like you HAVE to take the test, or you WILL get arrested and lose your license.

The fact is, refusing a field sobriety test gives NO evidence to the arresting officer that you are in fact, impaired.  With a good lawyer, refusing a field sobriety test is one of the best things you can do!  When you decide to blow into the breathlyzer or perform tests of physical capabilities, you are giving the officer visible proof that is being recorded on camera that will be nearly impossible to refute in court.  However, if you do not give the officer anything, his argument in favor of your conviction is a very hard sell in a court of law.

This does not mean that you will get off free!  In the state of Iowa, you will lose your license for a year if you refuse a field sobriety test.  But the good thing is, with a good lawyer, your record will remain unharmed, free of any conviction and free of any jail time (minus the time you spent at the initial arrest).

Comments Off



Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.