Alabama DUI Lawyer
Client Intake & Legal Advice
Before a lawyer can accept a client's case, he or she must interview the client and determine whether it is worth taking. Generally, there is no obligation to take a case, with the exception of public defenders, who must defend all indigent criminal defendants who cannot afford an attorney. The lawyer must also stay in regular contact with the client and advise them about the case's status and possible outcome.Legal advice is the application of abstract principles of law to the concrete facts of the client's case in order to advise the client about what they should do next. In Alabama, DUI lawyers must only be a properly licensed lawyer that may provide legal advice to clients for good consideration, even if no lawsuit is contemplated or is in progress. Therefore, even conveyancers and corporate in-house counsel must first get a license to practice, though they may actually spend very little of their careers in court. Failure to obey such a rule is the crime of unauthorized practice of law.
In other countries, jurists who hold law degrees are allowed to provide legal advice to individuals or to corporations, and it is irrelevant if they lack a license and cannot appear in court.
DUI in Alabama
In Alabama driving under the influence of alcohol, drunk driving, or drink-driving, is the act of operating a motor vehicle (and sometimes a bicycle or similar human-powered vehicle) after having consumed alcohol or other drugs, to the degree that mental and motor skills are impaired. In addition to driving under the influence of alcohol and driving under the influence of other drugs, a third "DUI" offence consists of driving under the combined influence of alcohol and other drugs. The drugs causing or contributing to the impairment need not be illegal, but can consist of lawfully prescribed or over-the-counter medication. Anti-drunk-driving advertising campaigns have aimed to raise awareness of the legal situation and the dangers of driving while intoxicated. Drunk-driving is responsible for a large number of deaths, injuries, damage and accidents every year.The specific criminal offence may be called, depending on the jurisdiction, driving while intoxicated (DWI), driving while impaired (also DWI), operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated (OMVI), driving under the influence [of alcohol or other drugs] (DUI), driving under the combined influence of alcohol and/or other drugs, driving under the influence per se or drunk in charge [of a vehicle]. Such laws may also apply to boating, piloting aircraft, and even bicycling in some states.
Today's statutes commonly provide for two separate and distinct criminal offences. The first is the traditional "drunk driving" offence, consisting of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Evidence to support this crime generally comes from the officer's observations such as erratic driving, slurred speech, unsteady gait, et cetera, performance on field sobriety tests, and a legal and generally reputable presumption of intoxication from a blood alcohol test result over the legal limit. The second offence is the more recent so-called per se offence, rather than focusing on impairment the crime consists entirely of having a given blood alcohol content (BAC) at the time of driving, regardless of the individual's tolerance to alcohol. Both offences may be charged, and the defendant may be convicted of both; if a blood alcohol test result was not obtained, only the traditional "DUI" offence will be charged.