Chicago DUI attorney explains why you want a DUI attorney to become a judge

Last week I had dinner with a great group of DUI trial attorneys from across the country. 

One in the group is taking the plunge.  There was spirited discussion about his desire to change his career path.  Take a wild guess what he’s going to do?

Nope, he’s not showing up on Dancing with the Stars, or Iron Chef America, or Top Chef, or America’s Next Top Model.

He wants to be a judge.  The table was so silent you could have heard crickets.  He was peppered with questions from all angles (I did say this was a group of trial attorneys didn’t I).  He just listened and nodded.  Many of the questions took the tone of "why in tarnation would you want to be a judge"?  He may as well have said he wanted to become a prosecutor or law enforcement judging by some of the laughs and grimaces around the table.

I’ve had time to think about it.  Being a judge is way too important a role to have DUI trial attorneys not take this step.  These specific practitioners are willing to piece together those bits of testimony that don’t add up.  They are familiar with forensics and there eyes will never glaze over when hearing science, math, engineering, or medical testimony. 

DUI trial attorneys are that rare group of folks who are frequently viewed with a sneer (or a snarl) more appropriately worn by Billy Idol, not even garbage collectors are asked, “why on earth would you want to do that”?  That question is asked of every DUI trial attorney I know on a regular basis.

Choosing to become a judge represents a huge loss to the DUI trial bar.  And an even bigger loss to loads of accused folks, but if there’s one thing that a DUI trial attorney knows, it’s that she/he is going to get up every day and fight for our Constitution.  The larger community deserves to have judges hearing cases who know what fighting for the Constitution means.

HINT:  In a Criminal Case, the Burden of Proof belongs to the Government.  The Burden of Proof is very, very high.  The Burden of Proof is Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.