DUI Lawyer in Lockport, With the Office Downtown

Bring these to the office

After an arrest by the Lockport Police Department, the officer takes your Illinois license and hands you a receipt. Under 625 ILCS 5/11-501.1(f)(1.5), that receipt is what lets you keep driving until the suspension starts. Treat it like a license and keep it in the car.

• The Uniform Traffic Ticket, including the court date on it
• The notice of statutory summary suspension
• The receipt that replaced your license
• Any release paperwork you signed at the station
• A list of who was with you and where you had been

Write down the list the same week. Memory fades fast, and a clear account of the stop is useful when Jeff reads the officer's report.

Your first 90 days, step by step

1. Day 1. You are arrested, tested or you refuse, and you get notice of the suspension.
2. Within days. You see the ticket's court date. That first appearance is an arraignment, where you enter a plea.
3. Day 46. The suspension takes effect, counted from the day you received notice (625 ILCS 5/11-501.1(g)).
4. By day 90. This is the outer limit to ask the court in writing for a hearing on the suspension (625 ILCS 5/2-118.1(b)).

That hearing request does not stop the suspension from starting. Waiting until day 80 to call means a request that arrives with almost no room to spare. Read how the process works on the statutory summary suspension page and the petition to rescind page.

What Jeff asks on the first call

The call goes faster if you have the answers close by. Jeff asks about the following, and none of it needs to be polished.

• Where and when you were stopped, and what the officer said was the reason
• What you were asked to do at the roadside, and what you did
• Whether you took a breath, blood or urine test, or declined
• Any earlier DUI or supervision, in Illinois or anywhere else
• Whether you hold a commercial license or drive for work
• Whether a crash, an injury or a passenger under 16 was involved

Cost questions come up early, and they should. Jeff explains how his fees work on that first call, once he knows which of those facts apply. The DUI cost page lists what moves the total in a DUI case.

Three missteps to skip

First, do not treat the court date as the only date. The 46th day and the 90 day limit run on their own. Second, do not drive on a guess about your license status. The receipt covers you only until the suspension takes effect, and the notice says when that is. Third, do not post about the stop. A message that looks harmless to you can read very differently to a prosecutor.

Why a Lockport address helps

Jeff has practiced for more than 30 years, and his office is at 136 E 9th St in Lockport. He appears at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet. When you call, Jeff answers the phone himself. You can bring the paperwork to the desk and leave with the next date written down.

If this is your first charge, the first offense DUI guide explains the usual path. If you need to drive while the suspension runs, the monitoring device driving permit page covers the permit and the interlock. For the weeks right after the stop, what to do after a DUI arrest is the short checklist.

Which court hears a Lockport arrest

A DUI case is heard in the county where the arrest took place. Lockport sits in Will County, so the case is filed with the Circuit Clerk of Will County and heard at the Will County Courthouse, 100 W Jefferson St, Joliet. Jeff's office handles the paperwork locally, then he appears in Joliet with you. The firm's wider Lockport page is at Areas We Serve: Lockport.

Reviewed by Jeff McCarthy, Attorney, Inspired Law Group, 136 E 9th St, Lockport, IL 60441.