PART I

There are many situations these days in which you may need a lawyer or to hire a lawyer for a loved one. How do you know if you need a lawyer?

MoraskLaw,http://morasklaw.com recently did a presentation to Maine Townshiphttp://mainetown.com over a series of Wedensday evenings in October of 2025 in which we tried to answer this question for a wide variety of circumstances. Over the next few posts we will talk about these various circumstances, including in Healthcare law, Criminal Law, Trusts & Estates Law, and Traffic Law.

Today’s post will feature the Criminal Defense and Traffic defense laws arena; the situations where you may need to hire an attorney the most. Everyone has seen this sign about drunk driving, right?

PART ONE: At the Scene

If you or anyone you are responsible for gets charged with DUI, you definitely need to hire a lawyer!!! DUI is an extremely complex area of the law and requires an attorney who actually is familiar with the entire field. If you get stopped for a traffic offense and an officer smells alcohol or you have committed any number of alleged traffic infractions ranging from

1) speeding to

2) lane changing while tapping a solid line,

3) or maybe a left turn without a blinker

4) a sliding stop sign. You get the drift. Many departments have quotas and police who are their district’s DUI “guy”.

Typically, an officer will put on lights and sirens to signal you to pull over depending of course on where you are and what potential underlying traffic infraction may be involved. He or she will approach your car and request your license, registration and your insurance. Please do keep these important documents in your vehicle and your insurance card easily accessible and not just on the phone. The officer takes your documents back to his squad and runs them through the system to see if you have any prior traffic/dui/open criminal or bench warrants history. (A bench warrant is from missing a court date.)

*The officer typically then comes back to your car, and depending on your history or his allegedly smelling alcohol on your breath may ask you to get out of the car. This is where things get dicey.

*Illinois is the one state where a Field Sobriety test is not mandated. These posts are emphatically not legal advice but MoraskLaw has represented 100s of DUI’s in court and a small tip we have discovered over the years; by the time they ask you to do this, they have already decided to arrest you for DUI.

* So why give them more evidence? People are naturally afraid of a traffic stop and also for whatever sociological reason always want to be agreeable to the police officer. You need not be rude. Just say “no thank you, Id like to call my lawyer.” They will invariably tell you you don’t have a right to a lawyer yet as you have been “detained, not arrested” In DUI land, this is a distinction without a difference.. They have seized you!!!

*Do not talk and/or babble. Again, if they ask you qustions you do not need to answer by using the old “I’ve had two beers”!!! DONT EVER SAY!!! Respectfully say, “Id like to talk to my lawyer”Saying you had two beers admits to having alcohol in your system-bang-you have given them evidence. Just like if you did the Field sobriety tests and fell off the straight line!!! No one seriously can do those tests. People are generally too timid to tell the officer (which is on body and dash cam) that you just had a knee/back operation or have some type of disability.

*Do not blow into a portable breath test. Period.

PART II comes tomorrow!