The NC DWI Guy

On today’s episode special guest Justin Philbeck shares strategies for attacking substitute analyst testimony, particularly on blood results involving drug impaired driving cases. After a decade as a prosecutor, including five years as a Regional Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor with the NC Conference of DAs, Justin stepped into criminal defense and concentrates his practice in DWI, traffic fatalities, and driver’s license protection. In this episode, Justin does a deep dive into Smith v. Arizona and it’s NC progeny before offering practical strategies for using these cases to suppress lab results on a DWI case. If you have any cases involving drug possession or drug related DWI, this episode will provide ammo for fighting the admission of lab results.  

On today’s episode Jake has sales and intake conversion guru Tony Le of the Law Firm Mentor on the podcast to discuss why most law firms ignore potential client conversion rates, where he has seen the biggest gains in intake with the firms he has coached, tools that are available for increasing sales, the biggest mistakes intake specialists and attorneys make during a consult that decrease conversion rates, and the #1 questions a law firm owner should ask related to improving their conversion rate. Tony is an absolute sales machine and has worked with criminal defense owners to produce significant revenue gains and a better quality of life. If you are looking to be able to help more of the potential clients that call your office this episode is a must listen!   Upcoming Webinar: If you enjoy today’s episode, Tony will be leading a webinar on Sept. 5 at noon entitled: 3 Game-Changing Shifts to Maximize Criminal Defense Conversions   Your phone is ringing, and your website forms are filling up — but if you’re not converting those leads into consultations, you’re leaving money and market share on the table. In this high-energy, one-hour webinar, we’ll dive into three essential conversion strategies every criminal defense firm must master: lightning-fast response times, consult-worthy lead qualification, and trust-building follow-up that closes the deal. You’ll discover how to remove the friction in your sales funnel, optimize intake for speed and persuasion, and position your firm as the only choice in a crowded market. This isn’t theory — these are field-tested fixes that win business in the toughest practice area.   Sign up at: https://share.hsforms.com/1rvgcFUF-R-S9X5mxbrTknA549gk  

On today’s episode Jake has rising legal star Benjamin Waldman of King Law on the podcast to discuss building client trust, utilizing the catchall mitigating factor in DWI sentencing, building a personal brand within a law firm, and working through imposter syndrome. Benjamin’s passion for criminal defense work is built around the intimacy of the attorney client relationship. If you are a lawyer who loves criminal defense work this episode is a must listen!

This week Jake continues his 5-part Dojo (“the place of the way”) series by reflecting on the places where legal education occurs and how to become a better student of the law within those spaces. If you want to be an expert in a field, according to Malcolm Gladwell, you need to put in 10,000 hours of practice. Jake discusses how to utilize the spaces of learning whether that’s your car, the attorney lounge at the courthouse, your reading chair, a virtual presentation, or a live CLE. Get ready to enter the classroom with Jake on today’s episode!

This week Jake continues his 5-part Dojo (“the place of the way”) series on maximizing your time by mastering your calendar space. This is the most exciting episode of the series for Jake, because he believes that if you can master your calendar you can go from being a mediocre to guru lawyer and from middling firm owner to thriving entrepreneur. If you want to be more productive and fulfilled as a legal professional don’t miss this week’s episode!

This week Jake continues his 5-part Dojo (“the place of the way”) series on maximizing your office space. If you spend 20 hours a week in your office for 50 weeks a year, then you are in your office for 1000 hours annually. Making sure your office space is uplifting and clean is essential to avoiding professional burnout and maximizing your work time. If you want to be more productive and fulfilled as a legal professional don’t miss this week’s episode!

The NC DWI Guy is finally back and kicking off a 5-part DWI essentials training series. The translation for the Japanese word “Dojo” is “the place of the way.” In this series Jake identifies fertile training ground for becoming a better DWI warrior. In today’s episode, Jake discusses the importance of the consult for establishing trust and growing your business and gives practical tips on how to become a better communicator and converter in your consult. Get ready to train in the DWI Dojo!

Just because an issue on a DWI case is novel, doesn’t mean it’s not worth pushing. If you want to give yourself the best chance of presenting a nuanced issue to a district court judge, Jake shares 5 tips to give your client the best chance of success. If you want to be the lawyer that provides cutting edge criminal defense and looks at a case from every angle, this episode is for you!

You are in for a real treat when you tune in to today’s conversation with Tony Scheer. After graduating from UNC Law, Tony began his legal career in 1992 as a law clerk for a federal judge. After his clerkship, Tony spent four years as an ADA in Mecklenburg County, before entering private practice where he has passionately devoted his last 27 years to defending individuals charged with crimes ranging from traffic tickets to first degree murder. Tony shares his playbook for vigorously defending cases from day one, and why attacking a case from the outset is critical to helping your client achieve the optimal outcome.

Why is running your practice so hard? Regardless of whether you have been in business a week or entering your twentieth year of firm ownership, the challenges you face in running your practice can keep you awake at night. On today’s episode Jake looks at three major obstacles facing small business owners (the law school mindset, lack of feedback loop, and a constantly changing market) and how to overcome them. Get ready to make practicing law easy(ish)!

On today’s episode Jake continues his series on increasing your conversion rate by telling you how to answer your client’s objections, even when they are unspoken. Learn how Jake has been able to uncover the unspoken objections of potential clients, and how to craft your response to the same. If you want to help more clients in the courtroom you have to get hired on more cases, so don’t miss these tips to help you increase the number of clients who retain you as their attorney.

On today’s episode Jake shares a recording of a recent CLE he taught through the Mecklenburg County Bar. If you are looking to aggressively defend a DWI case, cross-examination begins with the SFST Participant Manual. Referred to affectionately by Jake as the bible of DWI Defense, the Participant Manual allows you to lock in the training, reports, and testimony of the officer on your DWI case. Don’t miss this opportunity to take your DWI Defense to the next level! 

Increasingly lawyers and law firms are advertising themselves as “trial lawyers.” Every attorney admitted to practice law in North Carolina has the ability to take a case to trial in the district and superior courts throughout the State, so what does it mean to be a “trial lawyer?” On today’s episode, Jake lays out five defining characteristics of a true trial lawyer.

Do you want to help more clients? Marketing companies offer all kinds of creative ways to advertise your legal services, but the easiest way to get more clients is to have more of the potential clients that call your firm hire you. This is the first in a series of episodes focused on increasing your potential client conversion rate. In today’s episode, Jake emphasizes the critical importance of responding quickly to leads. In a world of immediate response, speed is a non-negotiable, speed is an expectation, speed is the first competitive advantage.  

Ready to attack 2025? Don’t sit back and wait for your calendar to fill up with other people’s requests for meetings, court dates, and to dos. Now is the moment to grab 2025 by the horns! Listen to Jake reflect on the importance of visualizing your year on the front end so that all you have to do come January is execute. Don’t miss this episode!

Jake takes a look back at 2024 and shares a reflection on the gratitude  generated by the relationships and events within the Freedom Fighter Community.

On today’s episode Jake examines a recent NC Court of Appeals opinion State v. Vaughn dealing with an attack on the foundation of radar results. Challenging the stop for speeding in a DWI case is a grossly underutilized attack point for many defense lawyers. Uncover the framework for speeding challenges through the lens of Vaughn and then sign up for the Attacking Speed in a DWI Case CLE at Campbell Law School in Raleigh on March 7.

On today’s episode Jake looks at amendments to NCGS 20-179.3 which allows a person convicted of a level 2 DWI to apply for a limited driving privilege if certain conditions are met. Given that the biggest consequence that many people charged with DWI face is a loss of driver’s license and driving privileges, this episode has huge implications for the DWI practitioner.   Highlights:   ·       Discover the requirements under 20-179.3 that a level 2 DWI offender must meet in order to request an LDP. ·       Learn why the number of interlock violations sent to the DMV and subsequent hearings is about to skyrocket. ·       Uncover the new process for drivers facing an ignition interlock violation in the final 90 days of their privilege. ·       Determine which convictions under 20-141.4 will now require an ignition interlock upon license restoration.

On today’s episode Jake looks at the recent North Carolina Court of Appeals decision of State v. Clark, COA23-1133. In Clark, the Court applied the recent United States Supreme Court decision in Smith v. Arizona (listen to Episode 222 for an analysis of that case) to North Carolina. The Clark Court ultimately found a violation of the Confrontation Clause occurred where a substitute analyst gave expert testimony which was based on a lab report by another analyst who did not testify without independent testing. Walk through the highlights of the Clark case and learn how ChatGPT can be utilized to draft a case brief, write a legal memo, prepare a motion to suppress in Microsoft Word, and create cross-examination questions.

On today’s episode Jake concludes his 4-part guest series on marketing. Today’s guest Camille Stell is the President and CEO of Lawyers Mutual Consulting & Services. Camille is a frequent author and speaker on topics of legal marketing and business development and helps lawyers and law firms with coaching and strategic planning.  On today’s episode, Camille discusses networking. Her take on marketing helps demystify why so many lawyers hate networking events and have trouble producing lasting relationships from such events. To Camille, the value of building your business through your network is the single greatest investment you can make in your firm. If you want to have fun and be productive at your next networking event, then don’t miss a word of today’s episode!