<p>Great outcome, glad it went well.</p>
<p>Classof2015:</p>
<p>Thank you so much for posting.</p>
<p>I am certainly convinced that hiring an attorney should be the first step in any legal matter. Seems like $500 was a bargain.</p>
<p>Thanks rockvillemom!</p>
<p>sax – agreed, and many people on this thread encouraged me to get an attorney, which was good advice.</p>
<p>One other tip you all probably know already – my employee who is a NJ attorney strongly suggested D wear clothes that showed “the proper respect for the court”. No short skirts, no shorts or jeans – a skirt and blouse – dressed for church or a job interview. She complained later she was the most dressed up person there, but I think it didn’t hurt.</p>
<p>Glad to hear she was able to get it reduced.</p>
<p>Classof2015,
You got great advice on hiring an attorney to try to make this “go away,” but it’s great parenting, in my opinion ;), to have your daughter have some serious family consequences because of this infraction. I’m sure that the attorney fee plus the court costs plus no use of the car in the fall will make a long-lasting impact on her. And as for dressing up to go to court? Absolutely! You need to show respect for the institution, even if no one else does!
Believe me, judges notice how a defendant is dressed.</p>
<p>What a relief, great victory! </p>
<p>I always dress conservatively in a court, never mind some one else did not.</p>
<p>Great result. Thanks for the update.</p>
<p>thanks momof3sons – I really appreciate your kind words. It’s hard not to feel like a bad parent (why is it my kid who gets in trouble?) etc. and it’s hard to know what to do. That was really nice of you to say.</p>
<p>You know you’re a great parent! It’s just in our nature as mothers to take it upon ourselves when something goes wrong in our kids lives. It’s so hard to let anything go, we gloss over the good stuff and focus on the bad stuff. You never know how these things will work out. Sometimes in the end, as difficult as it is, better they get caught doing something early on before they get hurt, so it doesn’t happen again. The result of your D’s situation seems like the best possible resolution.</p>
<p>Yippee! Thanks for sharing. Things like this are great teaching ops and it sounds like you taught your D many great lessons!</p>
<p>thanks everyone – I really do think she learned a valuable lesson here, and thank God she was safe and didn’t hurt anyone in the process.</p>
<p>She’s driving back home tonight. If you pass someone doing 50 in a 55 mph zone, wave – it’s probably her. :)</p>
<p>Congrats on the good outcome. I’m sure the amount of $$$ it’s going to cost her along with losing the privilege of having a car at school will make a big impression on her.</p>
<p>So glad you got a good outcome, and one that will hopefully help keep her safe on the road. </p>
<p>Re: dressing for court. Spend a little time in any courthouse and you will understand why attorneys feel it is necessary to give this advice. My favorites are the people who come to court for drug offenses wearing clothes that refer to drug activity.</p>
<p>I have a relative in the same situation… do you have your lawyers information?</p>