Should I hire an attorney for a traffic ticket?

Traffic tickets are inconveniences we face at some point or another. It begins with the unpleasant experience of being pulled over, and usually ends with a wasted day in Court trying to fight the ticket. Hiring an attorney can make this process much easier and less stressful.

Fighting a ticket by yourself can be a daunting and difficult task. Often you have to take off of work, find parking, get to the Court House and find out where to go, wait in line to be called up by the clerk, wait in the audience to be told to go speak to the City Attorney, and then wait again to speak to the judge. If you hire an attorney, you usually do not need to do any of these things; my clients almost never have to come to court with me. On the rare occasions that they do, they don't have to navigate the process alone. I am there to guide and help them.

Hiring an attorney will save time in the short term, money in the long term, and peace of mind at every stage.

I work in the Traffic Court Houses of the Greater New Orleans area on a daily basis. I know the procedures in each Court, and I know the staff and prosecuting attorneys. This means that I can speed the process up for my clients. It is no secret that you can negotiate with many District Attorney and City Attorney Offices to get a reduction on your ticket. The difference, however, is what reduction you can get. Often times I am able to save my clients hundreds, and sometimes thousands of dollars by negotiating over the charges on the ticket, or by pointing out some legal issue with the ticket.

The biggest reason to hire an attorney to handle your ticket is to make sure it doesn't get reported to your insurance company. Moving violations can increase your insurance premium by 10-20%. This can add up to additional hundreds of dollars per month in insurance premiums or being dropped by the insurance company entirely. While I cannot guarantee any result, I can honestly report that in my ten years of practicing in these Courts, none of my clients have had a moving violation reported to their insurance company. Remember also there is a big time investment in going to Court to fight this ticket. If you hire me to represent you I can go alone and you do not have to miss work, or find a babysitter, or take time out of your already busy day to handle this issue.

Moving violations can increase your insurance premium by 10-20%.

Traffic tickets seem like a minor inconvenience but they can mushroom into bigger problems. If they are not handled or handled incorrectly, they can negatively affect your insurance or driving privileges. Hiring an attorney will save time in the short term, money in the long term, and peace of mind at every stage. The next time you get a traffic ticket consider hiring me to represent you. Remember ... When No One's Carin' Call McLaren!