josie17

Does anyone know if USC has a service where they can recommend representation for students? My daughter got a summons for underage drinking and now has a court date. Rather than hiring a random attorney (we are from out of state) I was wondering if USC provided any such service.

ellebud

The Los Angeles Bar has a referral service which is free. I do not know about USC per se. You might check at the law school to see if they have a referral service. Be aware that the area that the attorney is located in can indicate their success/credibility. I do not think that any university provides free representation as a service to students. ANd, depending on where your daughter has her appearance may influence where you want to hire an attorney.

If your daughter is also has a dui, you are talking serious legal bills and fines. In any case attorneys who provide this sort of service tend to be very expensive if they are any good. If she has to go downtown you would want to hire someone from the westside.

sfgiants

USG Student Housing Resource

It's only 30 mins timeblocks, but this may help for an initial consultation...

Nester

I think you really want an experienced attorney who knows what s/he is doing to deal with this. If there are ways to go for diversion and keep it off your D's record, you need an advocate who is very familiar with the system and knows how to make this happen. If you can find such an attorney where you live, he or she would probably know how to find a counterpart in LA. You could also try to go with the county bar referral service and then look up the attorneys' backrounds online.

Are any of the USC parents on this board practicing CA attorneys who might know of an appropriate referral?

ellebud

My husband is an attorney. He DOES NOT do criminal work. He does know some of the finest. What I alluded to in my previous post, is that depending on the circumstances (DUI, forged ID whatever) this can be very expensive to have go away. (I seem to remember early in my husband's career hearing about the firm fixing such a problem. But, it has been a long time. I just know that my HUSBAND doesn't do this routinely. Perhaps someone else does.)

A friend or ours, (he is also an attorney) his son was arrested for something (they were quite vague, but there was no bodily injury or accident) having to do with underage drinking. Including fines, attorney's fees etc. it was about $20,000.

The problem went away. But it was a very expensive lesson.