Closing time means rush hour for this firm

Attorney Derek Patrin says he doesn’t need much sleep. That is a good thing because on most weekends he doesn’t get to bed until 4 a.m.

In the life of a criminal defense lawyer, the early morning hours of Thursday through Sunday are when the phone rings with potential clients. And if you don’t answer, someone else will.

The competition in criminal defense work is fierce. A soft legal market led many recent law school graduates to open solo practices, which veteran defense attorneys say have flooded the market and driven down cost. And criminal defense work is different from most practices. A complex bankruptcy case or large civil file can keep a team of attorneys busy for years. But criminal cases work through the system much faster.

“DWIs in particular have a short life span. It seems like you bring one in the same time you are closing two out,” Patrin said. “You really do have to be always thinking about the next case.”

Patrin and his law firm partner, Ethan Meaney, are more commonly known as MN DWI Guys. They have used aggressive Internet marketing to build a brand and find business. They registered the domain name www.dwiguys.com and convinced a company in California to sign over the phone number 1-800-DWI-GUYS. If you Google “Minnesota DWI Lawyer” their website pops up on the first page of results. Patrin said about 99.5 percent of their work is DWI defense.

They recently hired associate Benjamin Pardun, and the three alternate being on call for the overnight weekend shifts. Patrin said that when people call from the back of the squad car on the way to jail, they want to talk to an attorney who can give them legal advice.

“We get people who are hysterical and crying and worried about how they are going to get to work or what their family is going to say,” he said. “They want to talk to someone who can tell them what to expect and give them a sense that someone is working for them on the outside.”

Patrin said there is a mutual respect among defense lawyers because they are the used to being the underdogs. He said his fellow attorneys will share tips about a prosecutor’s tendencies or what arguments have worked well before a specific judge, but they do compete for business and some lawyers will turn negative to get a leg up.

For example, he and Meaney work out of their homes and have heard from clients that other attorneys have used their lack of an office to try to scare people off.

“I have heard from clients that another lawyer they talked to said, ‘Those guys don’t even have an office. Is this who you really want representing you?’” Patrin said. “I know it happens. There’s not much we can do about it.”

Another point of contention in the criminal defense world is the direct mailing to people recently arrested. Minneapolis criminal defense attorney Joe Tamburino said that if someone is arrested for a DWI, he or she will receive 40 to 50 letters from criminal defense attorneys in the next few days. When people are arrested, their personal information becomes public. Firms use data-mining services to retrieve that information electronically or pay someone to drive to the jails and collect it on paper.

The rules regulating attorney advertising allow for some gray area. An attorney can’t mail a letter to someone who was arrested for DWI that says, “I will represent you for $5,000 and get you acquitted.” But, lawyers can advertise that they provide criminal defense services, list contact information and the forms of credit cards they accept.

“Not a year goes by when I don’t get a client that says, ‘How did these people get my name and address? My wife didn’t know I got arrested until she opened the mail box.’” Tamburino said. “I know it’s legal, but I think it’s unprofessional. People have a right to privacy in their home.”

Tamburino said it’s embarrassing for the profession. He said that when someone Googles “criminal defense attorney” or scans the Yellow Pages from jail, they are actively seeking out an attorney. But when a letter shows up at their home, that is solicitation. He said the practice brings down the quality and the cost of the criminal defense services. He said the number of attorneys practicing criminal law has grown significantly in the past five to 10 years, the same time the legal market cratered.

New attorneys are taking cases that they shouldn’t for less money than they should.

“If you lower your rates and drive up your volume to be more profitable, how good are you going to be for each client? If you have a few dozen open file, there is not enough time to devote your full resources to each one. I don’t care who you are,” he said.

Patrin said that when he started out, his firm did direct mailing to find clients but stopped. He said it was a cost-effective way to start out, but it’s hard to distinguish yourself and sign up the business. He agrees with Tamburino that the practice is an invasion of privacy.

His business will continue to come from referrals from past clients, Web presence and those late-night phone calls. On the nights he works, he waits to go to sleep until after the bars close and the night quiets down.

“I am a night owl, so that helps, but I wouldn’t say it’s healthy to keep the hours I do,” Patrin said. “I turn 40 this year. We just hired a new associate and pretty soon he can take over the reins on our busy nights.”