And there is a special kind of dread that creeps in the moment you know you need an attorney. If you were just pulled over and have taken a breathalyzer test, been given a court summons to answer criminal charges, or fell into debt from which you cannot see the shore, often what happens next can feel like it would crush a building. Law is not a beginner-friendly activity, and representing yourself is hardly advisable. And that’s exactly the void that Lerner and Rowe Law Group was designed to remedy—not as a last chance effort but answers while being an easy going, relatable and knowledgeable ally next to Arizona’s residents when they are dealing with some of the worst times of their lives.
A Firm with a Clear Identity
Here is something that creates a bit of confusion and so it needs some clarification: Lerner and Rowe — there are two entities (even though they are closely related). Lerner and Rowe Injury Attorneys, a personal injury firm that has grown to one of the largest personal injury firms in the U.S. The Lerner and Rowe Law Group, on the other hand, is its own criminal defense practice that devotes all of its talents towards criminal case representation only in addition to Arizona DUI and bankruptcy law.
This distinction matters. If a person is accused of DUI or any felony arrest, he or she does not need a jack-of-all-trades — they need lawyers who concentrate exclusively on matters in the criminal courts and Arizona statutes in general, and all the granular procedural detail that separate the difference between plea deals and dropped charges. This specialization is the founding principle behind the Law Group.
Established by attorneys Glen Lerner and Kevin Rowe, the firm has developed a legal team that exclusively handles criminal defense and bankruptcy cases. Every staff attorney, every paralegal, every legal assistant is oriented to this practice. No distractions, no attention divided between the settlement of a personal damage and criminal hearings. This is a surgical operation, and this focus yields results.
The DUI Problem in Arizona
Arizona DUI laws are some of the most stringent in the entire country, and that’s not hyperbole. A typical Arizona DUI is for drivers with a BAC of 0.08% and above. But Arizona law has two higher levels than most states: Extreme DUI at 0.15% BAC, and Super Extreme DUI at 0.20% BAC. And the penalties scale — and quickly.
To begin with, even a standard DUI offence in Arizona includes jail time (a minimum of 24 hours, with many sentences much more than that), fines up to over $1,500 before any fees and assessments (which are also added on top of the fine amounts for standard DUIs), mandatory alcohol screening and treatment; and license suspension. A minimum jail time include 30 days for the extreme DUI. An aggravated DUI — which can be marred by a third DUI within 84 months, operating with a suspended licence, or having a minor passenger in the vehicle — is classified as a felony.
That brings us to the Lerner and Rowe Law Group. The team has experience from the full spectrum of DUI cases: standard DUI, extreme DUI, Aggravated DUI and marijuana DUIs as well as drug-related and even MVD administrative hearings that often go unnoticed as they are occurring next to the criminal court. What many do not know is that a DUI arrest starts two separate processes: the court case and the Motor Vehicle Division hearing that can lead to suspension no matter what happens in court. Failing to request a hearing with the MVD (typically only 15 days after you were arrested) automatically suspends your license. A seasoned DUI attorney works on both paths at the same time.
The company also tackles the technical aspect of DUI defense. Breathalyzer results are not infallible. Sobriety tests on the roadside may not be properly administered. All traffic stops legally require justification. Strict protocols need to be in place for blood draw processes. Such procedural or technical failures can sometimes be grounds to exclude evidence, or even to dismiss the case. Lerner andRowe Law Group lawyers understand what to search for and how to pursue these directions aggressively.
Answer — A Real Criminal Defense That Fights
The firms criminal defense practice includes a large range of charges from DUI to serious felonies. Your skill areas will be attacks and battery, drug offenses, robbery, gun charges, desires and fraud, bench warrants, kid crimes, manslaughter and homicide crimes.
Felony defense capacity is one of the firms’ core strengths. If you obtain a felony conviction, the stakes are particularly high — and very different from misdemeanors — as they can mean prison time, an individual now has a permanent criminal record that can negatively impact future job opportunities, housing possibilities who will obtain job/work and civil rights such as in voting and firearm ownership. Arizona also has its own set of intricacies, with mandatory minimum prison sentences for some drug and weapons offenses—the firm’s attorneys know how to work within those systems in search of the most favorable result.
Alan R. Hock — a State Bar of Arizona designated Criminal Law Specialist (an honor requiring proof of significant engagement in the field, successful completion of an arduous exam and positive peer/judge reviews) leads this team in part. There are few institutions at the specialist level, and this reflects both the very high level of expertise available to Law Group clients. Hock comes to the table with nearly 200 jury trials under his belt, a perspective that counts when an issue actually makes it in front of twelve people.
The company also takes on bench warrant cases, which are some of the more high-pressure circumstances individuals encounter — usually as a result of missing a court date, often without being even aware that there was a warrant. BENCH WARRANTS DON’T EXPIRE IN ARIZONA As they quietly wait for someone to get pulled over, run into law enforcement for any reason and beam right back into my face, or attempt to renew a license. An outstanding warrant is bad news for anyone, and one way to deal with it is a proactive and strategic defense from Lerner and Rowe Law Group instead of taking risks that could lead to a surprise arraignment in court.
Bankruptcy: A Tool, Not a Defeat
Bankruptcy may be the most unjustly stigmatized area of law. The many also file it as being a private failure, public humiliation and financial ruin. The truth is rather the reverse. Bankruptcy is a legal device designed precisely to provide individuals and families with an orderly exit from debt — a legally protected reset button.
Lerner and Rowe Law Group will take on Chapter 7 as well as Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases, but the approach is to demystify the process for clients.
What most people think of as bankruptcy is Chapter 7. Essentially, it’s a process that quickly gets rid of unsecured debts — credit card balances, medical bills, personal loans — for most filers (usually three to six months). While not all assets are in jeopardy, Arizona does provide certain exemptions for a primary residence (limited to the equity in the home), vehicles, retirement accounts and household goods. And Chapter 7 provides a true fresh start for people who qualify based on income, and do not have other significant non-exempt assets.
Chapter 13 is structured differently. Instead of assets being liquidated, it sets up a three to five year repayment plan that enables filers to get caught up on secured debt (like mortgage arrears) while handling unsecured debt overseen by the court. That’s useful to homeowners who want to keep their home but are falling behind on payments. When a Chapter 13 is filed it immediately ends foreclosure proceedings, making an automatic stay the only measure still available in some cases to halt foreclosures when time is especially short.
The firm also walks through the general questions that arise when someone is in bankruptcy: What happens to co-signers? Are there different categorizations of tax debts that can be forgiven What does the means test really even measure? How to rebuild credit after bankruptcy, and how does it affect your credit over time? They are real questions people have and they deserve more than some generic reassuring answer.
Lerner and Rowe Law Group understands the age-old irony behind individuals choosing bankruptcy due to financial duress, but then also being expected to pay what could be a substantial out-of-pocket retainer up front. This practical accommodation also reflects a recognition of the reality behind these clients — they are not theoretical legal problems, but actual people in actual trouble.
Availability When It Matters Most
You are aware that legal problems do not keep regular business hours. The arrests are made at 2 a.m. The DUI stops take place over holiday weekends. Once you’ve been put in handcuffs and/or find yourself in a crisis, the clock is ticking on decisions that will not only be irrevocable but also everlasting. If we can only call a lawyer once we are in a panic by waiting until Monday morning, that is not exactly a luxury.
Lerner and Rowe Law Group operates under the availability of free consultations 24/7. The company can be contacted by phone at (602) 667-7777, live chat or online case review form. It is not an inadvertent accessibility, though — it makes so-called prime organizers offered to people caught in tough scenarios bound by time.
The firm represents individuals throughout Arizona, with geographic reach including Maricopa County (including Phoenix and Scottsdale, Tempe, Chandler, Mesa and Glendale as well as 100s of surrounding communities), Pima County including Tucson, Yavapai County including Prescott, Mohave County including Kingman & Bullhead City; as well as communities across Coconino or Pinal Counties. And in a state as geographically large as Arizona, that statewide reach matters. The city’s Legal does not also just litigate legal challenges, and neither should the representation.
Why Experience and Specialization Matter
Hiring a lawyer is deciding who stands between you and the rest of your life. Type of wrongs — or no rights — can have huge effects, coming up with wreckage that stays within so long as somebody: a felony record for the entire professional-period which closes out almost every entry to work; a DUI conviction which overflowed insurance traffic by chronological raising, acquiring and aggravating accidents; many levels loans misused in manners that cost more than they fix.
That is what Lerner and Rowe Law Group brings to each case: the years of experience of lawyers practicing nothing but Arizona criminal courts, DUI law, and bankruptcy in general. They have familiarity with local prosecutors, with the proclivities of particular courts and trial judges, which procedural pressure points can change a case from being filed or not pending to facing charges, and many hundreds if not thousands of trials and filings experienced over their careers.
The firm also has something much less lucrative but no less crucial: the power of articulation. It’s confusing and scary because people don’t understand what’s happening or what comes next in a legal proceeding.— Staff A strong legal team takes the process and translates it — explains what a hearing is, what the available options are, how various choices might impact results. Having clients truly understand their own case makes them a better partner in their defense and be somewhat less subject to that feeling of helpless anxiety being so often left in the dark.
Getting Started
If you are in Arizona and facing a driving under the influence charge, criminal charge or financial hardship, your very first step (outside of reaching out to someone who cares) is information — specific information, about them individual facts, rather than just general guidelines learned during an Internet search that could have absolutely nothing to do with their unique situation. So, the first step—after you make a decision to explore is to speak with someone who can help: The free consultation offered by Lerner and Rowe Law Group provides the perfect place to do just that: Talk with attorneys about what happened, what it means under state law in Arizona, and what your options are.
The issues that cause people to seek out criminal defense attorneys and bankruptcy lawyers do not go away. Courts have deadlines. Warrants accumulate. Debt compounds. Each day without legal assistance about an active criminal case is a time spent without the safeguard your representation provides.
The legal maze is real — but it can be not walked alone. And that’s where Lerner and Rowe Law Group comes to play.
