Nov 12
Being charged with any criminal offence has serious consequences on your future, but when you are charged with a driving offence, such as DUI, the impact could be even greater since you could lose your license. Many people require their license to work and if they lose of that for any period can have devastating impact on the person and their family.
How Much Will my Impaired Charge Cost?
The rate a lawyer charges typically reflects their seniority, experience, and the demand for their services. This is the same with any profession, but a difference is each lawyer can only be scheduled in one trial on a particular day. Therefore, busy lawyers only have so many trials they can schedule a year so the rate they charge will reflect that.
How Will I be Billed for my Case?
For criminal cases there are two different fee structures: hourly fee or a block fee.
What is the Hourly Rate for Lawyers?
If you retain a lawyer on an hourly rate basis, you and the lawyer will agree to a specific rate that you will be billed for each hour of work on a file. For example, if the rate is $300.00, you will need to multiple that by the number of hours worked to get the total bill. Since the number of hours will not be known until the completion of the file, you will not know at the outset how much you will need to pay for your criminal case.
What is a Block Fee – What is a Flat Rate?
Some matters allow a lawyer to quote you a block fee for the matter. Impaired driving cases are an example of where flat rate billing is sometimes utilized. For most DUI charges, the disclosure, the preparation will be the same, so it is easy for a lawyer to predict the number of hours they will need to properly move your matter towards trial.
Typically, you will be quoted the initial retainer fee, and the additional costs of going to trial. Each lawyer will be able to tell you how much each court date will cost, but until the matter is ready to be set for trial the number of days required for your matter will not be known. For cases involving alcohol case, trial will, generally, vary between one to three days.
How Much Will I have to Pay for My DUI Charge?
Anticipated fees for an impaired case will cost between $10,000.00 to $20,000.00, which takes into consideration the number of trial days, lawyers experience and success rate.
Sometimes in a criminal case there are additional costs called disbursements. Examples of disbursements may include transcript fees, travel, or retainer for an expert. In ‘over 80’ cases, an external expert may also be required to defend you case. The expert’s services would be an additional cost which is not factored into the block fee.
Experienced Toronto DUI Lawyers
At Lockyer Zaduk Zeeh, our lawyers are experienced in representing individuals charged with all driving offences and have a successful track record of securing favourable results for our clients. If you are charged with a DUI, contact Lockyer Zaduk Zeeh to schedule a consultation by calling 416-613-0416 or by e-mail at info@lzzdefence.ca
