Even the most motivated impaired driving defense attorneys can occasionally draw a blank when trying to come up with topics to write about on their law firm websites. This post features eleven topic suggestions for evergreen pages and 10 blog topics for DUI attorneys looking to add more targeted content to their law firm websites.
When adding content to your DUI defense website, remember to link to other relevant pages on your site using a deliberate internal linking structure.
Evergreen DUI Page Topics
For information that is likely to prove beneficial in the long-term for your potential clients and that doesn’t change very frequently (including most information about relevant laws), it’s best to add the content to an evergreen page on your law firm website (as opposed to a blog post).
What follows is by no means an exhaustive list of topics that could be covered on a DUI attorney website, but it may provide you with some ideas of content that could benefit your site if you decide to include it.
• Penalties for DUI — Write in detail about what a first-time DUI offender can expect to face if they are convicted or plead guilty to their DUI charge. Be sure to use language that your potential clients are likely to use, and, if you must use legalese, be sure to explain it in layman’s terms.
Get more granular — Continue fleshing out this content by adding information relevant those potential clients who might be facing a second or third-time offense, as well as by offering statistics about impaired driving.
• Field Sobriety Tests — Discuss the types of field sobriety tests that authorities may use during a traffic stop, as well as the level of accuracy and admissibility of each test.
Get more granular — Go further into detail over time by addressing whether your potential clients have the right to refuse such tests and what the consequences could be should they decide to do so. Try to add local information to your content, including local statistics, procedures, and places where DUIs occur most often in the geographic region(s) where you practice.
• Blood Alcohol Limits — Write about blood alcohol limits in your state. Discuss how different limits might apply to individuals who have commercial licenses, what might constitute an aggravated or felony BAC, BAC limits for individuals under 21 years of age, as well as the penalties for each of these offenses.
Get more granular — Talk about things that could affect BAC which might not be related to drinking alcohol, how much alcohol it might take people of different weights to reach a certain BAC, as well as other factors that can impact BAC readings.
• Chemical, Blood, and Breath Tests— Go into detail about the types of tests that are used in your state to determine whether or not an individual is legally impaired while driving. How do those tests work? How accurate are they? Discuss your potential clients’ rights as they relate to each type of test, including what could happen to them if they refuse any or all BAC tests.
Get more granular — Dive deep into the topic of specific tests employed in your geographic region of practice, including the testing kits or devices police may employ. You can even go into detail about how those tests have evolved or changed over time since they were invented.
• “Driving” Under the Influence— Many of your potential clients may not be aware that it’s possible to get a DUI even if they are not driving a vehicle when they are approached by police. Discuss situations in which individuals may be charged with DUI whether or not they are actually driving.
Get more granular — Offer tips about how to avoid DUI when not driving, e.g. by keeping keys out of the ignition or elsewhere in the vehicle when “sleeping it off,” or by approaching the vehicle from the passenger side as opposed to the driver’s side (depending on the laws in your particular region of practice, of course). You can also talk about how these laws apply to other types of vehicles, including motorcycles, bicycles, and heavy farm or industrial equipment, to name a few.
• Commercial Driver’s Licenses— How do DUI laws differ for those who drive professionally or for individuals who were driving under a commercial license when they were charged?
Get more granular — You can cover information about whether or not commercial drivers’ licenses can be reinstated following a DUI and the process by which that can be accomplished. You might even think about covering the topic of out-of-state residents who were pulled over and charged with DUI while making an interstate trip for the sake of truck drivers who may have just been passing through your region of practice when they were charged.
• Professional Licenses and Certifications — There are a number of jobs which require some sort of professional certification to maintain, including jobs in nursing, counseling, childcare, and construction/contracting. How might a DUI charge and/or conviction affect someone with such a license?
Get more granular — Will your potential clients need to tell their boss they were charged with DUI? Will your potential clients’ employers find out about their case whether or not your clients inform them directly? What if someone is in the process of getting a license when they are charged with DUI? How long might each of these professional licenses be affected by a DUI charge or conviction? Can DUI offenders appeal if their licenses are revoked and, if so, how?
• Controlled Substance DUI — For some, it is a revelation that drivers can be charged with DUI for being under the influence of substances other than alcohol. Add content to your site about each substance that could lead to a DUI under the laws in your state, from prescription drugs to illegal narcotics to cold medicine.
Get more granular — Discuss statistics on controlled substances, intoxication levels and methods of detection (if applicable), and penalties for drug, controlled substance, and other forms of DUI.
• Underage DUI — The consequences of a DUI may affect minors differently than they do adults. Those charged with DUI before they are of legal drinking age may face a unique set of penalties, procedures, and laws. Go into detail about each of these potential situations on your law firm website.
Get more granular — The circumstances surrounding minors charged with DUI opens up an entirely new set of content opportunities, including potential penalties, DUIs for substances other than alcohol, and BAC tests and limits, just as you may have already done when discussing DUIs for adult clients in general. Consider targeting both potential clients and their parents when writing about DUI charges against minors or those who are adults below the legal drinking age.
• Hearings and Court Dates — Talk about each hearing and/or court date that your potential clients should expect to go through after being charged with a DUI, including whether or not they need to be present at those hearings, timelines for court processes, and possible outcomes of those events.
Get more granular — Offer suggestions about what to wear to court, when to arrive, where to park, and other insights you can provide that might make the process easier on your potential clients.
• Expungement — Your potential clients may or may not know what an expungement is, so explain its meaning on your law firm website. Explain the types of crimes that may be eligible for expungement and how to go about the process of expunging a conviction from one’s record, if applicable.
Get more granular — The details of expungement may differ depending on whether or not a DUI charge is a first offense, if the accused is a minor or juvenile, etc. Discuss the long-term implications of having a DUI on your record, as well as how job applications could be affected with and without expungement. This discussion can also include references to how an expungement could affect professional licenses or other specific concerns.
DUI Law Firm Blog Topics
• Checkpoints and heightened enforcement — Your local police force might ramp up DUI enforcement during certain holidays and events. If so, capitalize on this information by adding warnings and locations of checkpoints to your blog before the heightened enforcement begins. You can also look at arrest statistics after heightened enforcement days and cover them in future blog posts.
• DUI cases that make your local news — Occasionally, the circumstances surrounding a particular DUI case (or the decision not to file charges) are noteworthy enough to make the local news. Discuss such cases on your blog even if the relevant DUI charge is only part of the story by discussing how that charge could impact a case as a whole.
• High-profile DUI cases that make the national news or are otherwise trending online — Though a high-profile DUI case against a celebrity or other public figure that takes place in another state may not affect your potential clients directly, you can illustrate your knowledge of DUI laws by addressing the circumstances of that case on your law firm website’s blog. Just be sure to offer a local take on the case by comparing the processes surrounding that case to how it would likely be handled in the geographic region where you practice.
• Address the subject of underage drinkers during key times on the academic calendar — Each new semester means an entirely new crop of students leaves home to attend college, and the parents of those children are likely to be concerned about the potential legal trouble that might accompany the college experience. Talk about common charges faced by underage drinkers, the processes they are likely to be exposed to and even discuss general underage drinking statistics using the academic calendars in your area as a guide. Things like local music festivals, college and high school sporting events, and vacation periods like spring break also offer unique opportunities to address this topic.
• Industry updates and developments that might affect your clients or your practice — Each time a new DUI test procedure is invented, updated, or altered, it can have an effect on your potential clients. When news breaks that a particular DUI test was deemed inadmissible for one reason or another, when tests are created to detect previously undetectable substances, or when the business or policies surrounding ignition interlock devices (or other relevant industries) are changed in ways that might affect your potential clients, write about it on your blog.
• Changes in priority, procedure, or enforcement of DUI laws in your geographic region — The election of new public officials, changes in police command structures, and many other factors can influence the way that DUI laws in your region are prioritized and enforced. Blog about changes and potential changes to procedures and enforcement in order to make sure that your potential clients can stay informed on developments as they arise.
• Construction and other local projects that could have an effect on your clients — It may be worth covering on your blog when construction projects occur at or near courthouses where your clients are likely to have their DUI hearings. Similarly, impediments or changes that affect DMV/MVD locations where your clients will need to go for processes involving their licenses or identification credentials may also be worth mentioning on your law firm website.
• Changes to other businesses and organizations not directly related to enforcement that might affect your clients — Your clients and potential clients will sometimes need access to services and/or products not provided by your law firm, including information about DUI classes, ignition lock retailers, and substance abuse support groups or treatment centers. Stay informed about developments in such industries in your community, including openings and closures, as well as other changes to such entities and keep your readers updated when new information becomes available.
• Updates and information about public transit — Since many DUI offenders face the suspension or loss of their driving privileges, it would benefit many of them to have information about public transit opportunities in the geographic region where you practice. Keep your readers informed about changes to bus routes and other updates that might affect their ability to get from place to place without a license.
• Other information that will be of interest to your potential clients — You can illustrate competence in your practice area by discussing some of the lesser known paths that can lead to being charged with a DUI (including things such as aggressive driving or drowsiness, in some states). You might even benefit from talking about how DUI laws differ across the nation on your blog, so long as you are able to draw parallels to your geographic region.
