For most people knowing when to find a good lawyer is a lot like knowing when to find a good heart surgeon, and it’s almost always a case of wishing you hadn’t waited so long. We don’t want to think about needing open heart surgery. We don’t want to think about needing the best DUI attorney we can find. But things happen and unforeseen situations sometimes leave us unprepared.

Finding a good attorney can be a challenge sometimes. We all want to find one with the expertise we need as it relates to our particular situation. A top criminal defense attorney might not be the one you’d likely want to retain to handle your divorce settlement. Likewise, an estate lawyer might suggest you find a DUI attorney if you’ve been cited for drunk driving. This makes sense because even though lawyers all pass the Bar Exam, the practice of their art, like medicine, becomes specialized.

Let’s say you’ve been caught driving under the influence and you’ve received a DUI summons from the police. You would first want to find a good lawyer that specialized in DUI law. The lawyer you find will hopefully know that area of the law well enough to assist you in navigating all of the possible problems that are sure to lie ahead. For example, in the state of Ohio, if you are convicted of a DUI charge, you could find yourself in jail for three days to six months. A good lawyer who knows the state DUI laws will most likely know those laws better than you and will advocate for you better than you could for yourself. The consequences you face from a DUI or OVI will be significantly less if you are able to find a good lawyer to represent you.

There are so many ways a good lawyer can help you in a DUI case. Many of the ways they can help are in dealing with issues you might not even have thought about. If you are facing a DUI charge, a quality DUI attorney will analyze videos, find witnesses that you hadn’t even thought of, and challenge things like breathalyzer tests. Every little thing will help. And when you are in the midst of dealing with other personal fallout, it’s extremely comforting to know that your lawyer is handling matters of the law for you.

Of course, DUI attorneys are not the only attorneys you will ever need. In fact, I’m quite sure that you hope you’ll never need them too. However, drunk driving laws have gotten quite stringent and law enforcement is cracking down on DUI offenders everywhere, as well they should. In Ohio, one out of every seven licensed drivers has, at least, one conviction for driving while impaired. That’s over 1.1 million people.

Nobody wants to need a criminal lawyer, but the fact is that most people will need one sooner or later. If you have to find a good lawyer, ask yourself who you would most want to go to bat for you when the game is on the line. Your life is no game. Don’t get caught playing at it. Find a good lawyer today so that you will have one when the time comes.