faq

Contact an attorney immediately. A competent attorney may provide invaluable guidance that helps prevent you from incriminating yourself, while staying within the bounds of the law. In limited cases, this advice can help prevent charges from ever being brought. If you are picked up and held for questioning or charged with a crime, tell the police that you wish to remain silent and you do not wish to answer any questions without an attorney present. It is even more imperative that you not discuss the circumstances of the crime with police before you have seen an attorney. This, at[...]

Contact an attorney immediately. An attorney can visit your loved one in the police station, advise them not to talk to police and notify the police that they are represented by an attorney and will not answer questions. Timely intervention can help prevent your loved one from caving into police pressure and providing the evidence needed for a conviction. In Illinois, if your loved one has been picked up for a relatively minor offense and has a clean record, they may be eligible for an I-Bond. That means they can leave the police station on their personal promise that[...]

Law enforcement officers are trained to make suspects feel comfortable so that they will incriminate themselves. You have the absolute right NOT to talk to the police. In many cases, people who have tried to talk their way out of a potential arrest incriminate themselves severely. If the police ask you to answer questions about your possible role in a criminal act, you should say “I wish to exercise my right to remain silent. I wish to speak to an attorney.” In all cases, you should treat the police with respect and courtesy, even if you feel that officers[...]

If you are being charged with some form of academic dishonesty or other discipline code violation, you should discuss your legal options with an attorney. An attorney can help you through the disciplinary proceeding. Often clients are not aware of how they come across to others. An attorney can help you present yourself in the best possible light.

If believe you are being investigated for a crime, you should contact an attorney immediately. At times, the involvement of an attorney early on can reduce the chances of criminal charges being brought against you later.

Often on first offenses, a court will sentence defendants to a term of supervision or probation for a set length of time. This term may have certain conditions such as random drug testing. Probation or supervision, however, always require that you stay out of trouble with the law. Therefore, even if you are suspected of committing a crime or if you have committed a relatively minor offense such as a retail theft, the court can now re-sentence you on the first offense, which can mean significantly stiffer fines or even a jail term. And that still doesn’t take care[...]

To prove possession of a controlled substance, the state must show: 1) you knew about the presence of the drugs, and 2) the drugs were in your immediate and exclusive control. The police do not have to show you had the drugs on your person. Constructive possession is enough. For example, the drugs are in your closet and no one else has the keys to your home. Since actual knowledge is difficult to prove, the state can infer that you knew about the narcotics from your acts, declarations or conduct. While the state must show the drugs were in[...]

After your arrest, you will have a bond hearing. At the bond hearing, the court will set the amount of bail necessary to permit your release from jail. In all likelihood, the State will argue for the Court to set the highest bond possible, or in some cases, to deny bond altogether. An experienced attorney can help present those factors most likely to persuade a particular judge to set a reasonable bail. About a month after the bond hearing, your case will be set for a preliminary hearing, that is a hearing to establish whether the police had probable[...]

In Illinois, if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident resulting in personal injury or death, you must immediately stop at the scene of the accident and remain there until you have provided your name, address and registration to the person you struck.  Furthermore, you must provide reasonable assistance to the injured, including, if necessary, carrying them to a doctor. You also must file a police report within one half hour of the accident or of being released from a hospital. If you have only damaged the other person’s car, you must still immediately stop and provide your[...]

In Illinois, you may be guilty of a deceptive practice if you issue a check exceeding $150.00 in payment for credit, property, labor or services, knowing that you have insufficient funds, and if you failed to make the check good within seven days of receiving actual notice that your check has bounced. You are presumed to have the necessary intent to defraud if your check bounces two times at least seven days apart, or if you didn’t have enough funds to cover your check when the check was delivered. When you are hit with a Class A Misdemeanor, you[...]