Grand Prairie Traffic Ticket Lawyer

Grand Prairie Traffic Ticket Attorney

214-321-4105

More and more it is becoming increasingly important to know a good traffic ticket attorney to help defend your driving record. With each passing legislative session, the laws are becoming more complex. This article is intended to help outline some of the benefits that Grand Prairie traffic ticket attorneys help provide to their clients. If you would like to discuss hiring a traffic ticket attorney in Grand Prairie with our office, feel free to call us at 214-321-4105.

Protecting Your Driving Record And Your Driving Privileges

Because Texas is part of the Driver Responsibility Program that has swept across the United States, it is imperative that you keep a clear driving record.  Every conviction reported by Grand Prairie Municipal Court has the potential of suspending your driving privileges.  Once a conviction is reported it is near impossible to remove from your record.  So the key is understanding how to protect your record prior to the conviction taking place.

First, you must understand that the days of simply paying off old tickets is gone.  Since 2003, every payment made to Grand Prairie Municipal Court is treated as a conviction on your permanent record.  Article 27.14 of The Code Of Criminal Procedure sets forth the law regarding how payments are to be treated.  That code section states the following:

• (c) In a misdemeanor case for which the maximum possible punishment is by fine only, payment of a fine or an amount accepted by the court constitutes a finding of guilty in open court as though a plea of nolo contendere had been entered by the defendant and constitutes a waiver of a jury trial in writing.

Why is the law written this way? It is because it is easier for a court to simply find you guilty and close the file out as opposed to having to monitor the case for 3 to 6 months for deferred adjudication or driver safety to protect your record. The system is set up for ease on Municipal Courts not to protect an every day citizen’s record.

The First Step – Understanding Your Goals And Expectations

Good representation by a lawyer starts with a good understanding of what the client’s goals and expectations are. Without understanding the client’s goals and expectations, how can they possibly do a good job? It is also imperative that potential clients understand what is possible and not possible given the circumstances of their case. If a client says, “I want my cases dismissed!” then experienced lawyers are waiving a red flag about whether or not they will be able to communicate effectively with that client, because hiring a lawyer does not guarantee a case will be dismissed.

This is why we have made this a standard part of our client sign up process. We want to know what your goals and expectations are for 2 reasons. First, we want to be able to meet those goals and expectations if we can based on the circumstances of your case. Second, we want to know if your goals and expectations are reasonable. And if they are not reasonable, we want to be able to explain why. For example, if we have a client list their goals and expectations as, “I want my case dismissed” when they know full well that they were speeding and it was caught on video and they admitted as much on the tape then we may need to have a serious conversation about why a dismissal may not be an option. In some cases, our attorneys may simply need to state that we are not the right traffic ticket lawyer in Grand Prairie for that person.

You see, our Grand Prairie traffic ticket lawyers are trying to develop long standing relationships with you. We don’t just want you to hire our office for a single traffic ticket. We want you to rely on us for honest advice, regardless of the circumstances. We want a partnership with our clients based on trust. That trust is built upon you understanding the reality of the situation and having a lawyer outline the good, the not so good and the bad. Because ultimately every good lawyer knows that they are more of a servant than anything else to their clients. Lawyers serve to educate, advise and then help the client come to the right decision. Once that decision is made, that attorney then takes action to try and accomplish the task at hand.

The Benefit of Hiring A Grand Prairie Traffic Ticket Attorney

One of the biggest benefits of hiring a traffic ticket attorney is the amount of time it saves. A Grand Prairie traffic ticket attorney will contact Grand Prairie Municipal Court on your behalf. They send a formal letter of representation requesting a pre-trial hearing. This hearing is attended by your traffic ticket lawyer where they negotiate the best deal available with the Grand Prairie Municipal Court prosecutor. If a deal cannot be struck that protects your driving record, insurance rates and driving privileges, the case will be reset in order to discuss other available options. All of this is done without you having to appear once in court. This allows that time you would have spent to be better used.

Second, an experienced Grand Prairie traffic ticket attorney can save you money. Not only money on any fees that may be owed to Grand Prairie Municipal Court, but money that can be lost by not maintaining a clear driving record. A bad driving record can cost you thousands of dollars a year in increased insurance rates, surcharges, etc. By hiring a Grand Prairie traffic ticket lawyer, it is like having an insurance policy that fights to protect all that wasted income that would spent otherwise.

Payment Of Tickets and Convictions

Lets be quite clear. Payment of a traffic ticket without anything more is the equivalent of being convicted at a trial for the offense you paid. The authority for this is located in the Code of Criminal Procedure and states the following:

• (c) In a misdemeanor case for which the maximum possible punishment is by fine only, payment of a fineor an amount accepted by the court constitutes a finding of guilty in open court as though a plea of nolo contendere had been entered by the defendant and constitutes a waiver of a jury trial in writing.