Just as you would not go to a doctor who specializes in foot-related issues (podiatrist) for brain surgery, don't trust your liberty, your life and your driver's license to an attorney who takes any old case that walks in the door. You deserve not just a good attorney, but rather the very best qualified attorney to help you.
Some thoughts on your decision of attorney. . .
| Number of attorneys in the world... |
1,600,000 |
| Of those, the number of attorneys in the US... |
1,250,000 |
| Of those, the number of attorneys in Pennsylvania... |
43,000 |
| Of those, members of the National Association Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)... |
204 |
| Of those, members of the Pennsylvania Association Criminal Defense Lawyers (PACDL)... |
101 |
| Of those, members of National College for DUI Defense... |
13, we are 4 of them |
| Of those, who received training as Instructors in Standard Field Sobriety Testing as recognized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration... |
5 of which we are 4 |
| Of those, who are a Certified Breath Alcohol Test Technician as recognized by the Department of Transportation... |
5 of which we are 4 |
| Of those, who received training in Drugs that Impair Driving (Drug Recognition Expert training) as recognized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration... |
5 of which we are 4 |
| Of those, Certified as a Phlebotomist (drawing and analysis of blood samples) |
2-McShane is one |
of the attorneys at The McShane Firm, LLC hold a current Breath Alcohol Technician rating as recognized by the US Department of Transportation. McShane was re-certified as a BAT recently. This training was performed by a factory certified BAT instructor.
of the attorneys at The McShane Firm, LLC hold a current certificate for attending and completing both the NHTSA/IACP approved Instructor rating (the highest rating) in the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests and Drugs that Impair Driving Course. This training was performed by Anthony "Tony" Palacios.
When you go to ask the qualifications of the attorney who you are going to trust with your life and your driver's license, ask whoever it is the following Checklist questions:
| YES |
Are you a Certified Breath Alcohol Test Technician as recognized by the United States Department of Transportation? (McShane, McShane re-certification, Curry, Barrouk, Dorward ) McShane's Alco-Sensor FST operator certificate; McShane's Alco-Sensor FST supervisor certificate; Curry's Alco-Sensor FST operator certificate; Curry's Alco-Sensor FST supervisor certificate; Barrouk's Alco-Sensor FST supervisor certificate; Barrouk's Alco-Sensor FST operator certificate; Dorward's Alco-Sensor FST supervisor certificate; Dorward's Alco-Sensor FST operator certificate |
|
| YES |
Have you ever actually seen a Breathalyzer in operation? Not just on a video but actually live, in person? |
|
| YES |
Do you own an operable Intoxilyzer 5000EN? |
|
| YES |
Do you own an operable BAC DataMaster? |
|
| YES |
Do you own an operable SD-2 and an SD-5 Pre-arrest Breath Test ? |
|
| YES |
Do you own a Guth Laboratories Simulator and know how to use it to calibrate Breath machines? Have you ever seen one (other than on video)? Have you ever used one? |
|
| YES |
Do you hold a current and highest certification AS AN INSTRUCTOR in the administration of Standard Field Sobriety Tests as recognized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the International Association of Chiefs of Police? (McShane holds it) (Curry does) (Barrouk too) (Dorward does as well) |
|
| YES |
Do you hold a current certification in the administration of Standard Field Sobriety Tests as recognized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the International Association of Chiefs of Police? (McShane holds practitioner rating) (McShane refresher course) (Curry) (Barrouk) (Dorward) |
|
| YES |
Have you received training in the procedures employed by a Drug Recognition Expert (used by the police to "spot" controlled substance impaired drivers) in a NHTSA approved course "Drugs that Impair Driving"? (McShane) (Curry) (Barrouk) (Dorward) |
|
| YES |
Have you been elected by your national peers into membership of the National College of DUI Defense? (McShane); (Curry); (Barrouk); (Dorward) |
|
| YES |
Have you attended, completed and hold a certificate in phlebotomy (the drawing of blood and analysis of blood)? |
|
| YES |
Have you attended and received a certificate in "Accident Scene Reconstruction" as part of your Continuing Legal Education? |
|
| YES |
Have you attended training with the National College for DUI Defense at Harvard? (McShane) |
|
| YES |
Have you received specialized training relevant to the defense of CDL truck drivers? McShane has, including weight and load restriction violations, Log Book violations, Motor Carrier Safety Administration Hours of Service Regulations, Hazardous Materials Transport, mechanical failure cases, and EDR/ECM data (black box). |
|
| YES |
Do you attend the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)/national College for DUI Defense, Inc. national conference "DWI Means Defends with Integrity"? (McShane); (Curry) |
|
| YES |
Have you been a lecturer at a conference where other attorneys from all over the United States have come to learn? (McShane has) (Curry has) (Barrouk has) (Dorward has) |
|
| YES |
Have you been a featured guest lecturer at the Pennsylvania State Police cadet classes? |
|
| YES |
Have you been asked to speak at various academic institutions on Jury trial advocacy? |
|
| YES |
Have you actually served as a Juror in a trial? (And again). |
|
| YES |
Do you teach and moderate a yearly Continuing Legal Education Course? (McShane does. It is called "Traffic Law and DUI") |
|
| YES |
Have you strictly defended those accused of a crime and DUI and never prosecuted a single person for anything and especially not for a DUI? |
|
| YES |
Do you actually take preliminary hearings and don't just waive them into Court to "work something out later"? |
|
| YES |
Do you presume me to be innocent? |
|
| YES |
Do you actually challenge the stop of the vehicle, the reason for the arrest and the blood/breath or refusal result pre-trial? |
|
| YES |
Do you actually take DUI cases to trial? |
|
| YES |
Do you actually know exactly what you are doing? |
|
| YES |
Did you write two authoritative treatises (book) on DUI Defense that actually have an ISBN number that are copyright protected and are widely available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon and others? (the first one, the second one ) |
|
| YES |
Are you selective in the cases that you take and limit the number of cases so you can devote as much time as you need to them? |
|
| YES |
Do you have available to you a Doctor who is an expert in the collection and analysis of my blood specimen who you can use to later challenge the result in Court if necessary and appropriate? (Be sure to ask the attorney the name of his/her expert and the last time he/she used that person in trial) |
|
| YES |
Do you have available to you a medical doctor who is an expert in forensic toxicology and emergency room medicine who can examine the accuracy and the collection method of my blood result to later challenge it in Court if necessary and appropriate? (Be sure to ask the attorney the name of his/her expert and the last time he/she used that person in trial) |
|
| YES |
Do you have available to you the foremost expert in the field of the Standardized Field Sobriety Testing and Drug Impaired Driving analysis (Drug Recognition Expert) who holds instructor ratings in both who can challenge the results and whether or not I am a good candidate for the tests to begin with and use this expertise in Court if necessary and appropriate? (Be sure to ask the attorney the name of his/her expert and the last time he/she used that person in trial) |
|
| YES |
Do you have available to you an internationally recognized expert in infrared breath testing spectrometry and Evidentiary Breath Test machine maintenance and calibration who can examine the accuracy and collection method of my breath test result to later challenge it in Court if necessary and appropriate? (Be sure to ask the attorney the name of the expert and the last time he/she used that person in trial) |
|
| YES |
Do you have available to you an internationally recognized expert in accident scene reconstruction who can later challenge the State's result in Court if necessary and appropriate? (Be sure to ask the attorney the name of the expert and the last time he/she used that person in trial) |
|
| YES |
Are you discriminating in your practice? Do you decline to represent those that you know you cannot help out in a fundamental way? |
|
| YES |
Do you actually return phone calls within minutes or hours but never more than 24 hours? |
|
| YES |
Do you operate 24 hours a day and 7 days a week with an emergency line that goes directly to an attorney? |
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