Q: How much does it cost to "fight" a Misdemeanor C case in Plano Municipal Court, TX? What is the best way

A: Some attorneys offer a "Free Consultation" but that does not mean "free legal advice." There are thousands of different types of legal problems. Some attorneys will take any case that walks in the door, but most attorneys focus on only a small sub-set of those problems.

The purpose of a "free consultation" is to find customers who have the type of problem the attorney can solve and is willing to take on. If your legal problem isn't the type of case the attorney is seeking, she will send you away, perhaps with a referral to a different attorney she believes is more likely to accept your case. If the attorney is willing to take your case, you will be given a quote for the services. The attorney may give you some feedback on your legal problem, but the primary purpose is actually to demonstrate mastery of the subject matter, not to provide free legal advice.

There is a fine line between discussing the potential consequences of a legal problem and alarmist scare tactics. Unfortunately, some attorneys fall on the wrong side of that line when they use the "free consultation" as an opportunity to launch a high-pressure sales pitch.

How much it costs is a function of how much TIME the attorney expects to put into the case. An attorney who frequently goes to municipal court with a stack of traffic ticket cases will have a substantially lower fee than an attorney that takes felony cases to trial in District Court. Many cheap criminal defense attorneys are essentially plea brokers... they find out the prosecution's offer to resolve the case before trial and then they convince their client it is a good deal. Their business model involves having a large number of cheap cases, and then spending the minimum time necessary to close each one. When an attorney brags about his experience saying that he handled 300 cases last year, remember that there are only about 260 working days per year... so that means he spent less than one day per case.

A trial attorney will be operating on a totally different level. They will conduct their own investigation into the evidence, the witnesses, and even the cops. They will familiarize themselves with the applicable law and the case law and they will take steps to exercise all of your statutory and Constitutional rights. These attorneys fight to win, and they definitely don't want to lose to a municipal court prosecutor. This type of representation maximizes your chance for the best possible outcome, but it is a premium service and can easily cost 10x as much as a traffic ticket attorney or 3x the price of standard a high volume criminal defense attorney.

If you choose to hire a traffic ticket attorney, tell them it is your first offense and you are willing to ANY deal that results in a dismissal and leaves you eligible for expunction. Perhaps that means community service and disguising a fine as court costs... anything to avoid a conviction. A traffic ticket attorney may not be ideal, but it is a much better choice than doing it yourself if you care about the potential impact of a conviction on your future.