Las Vegas Traffic Court Articles
My signature in BLUE on your letter indicates that I have personally reviewed your file and letter
Sunday, August 23, 2009
As I was sitting with a Judge Pro Tem (a temporary judge) in the past week working through client traffic tickets, a brief discussion ensued that made me think about how I timely and accurately notify clients with results after I appear. While I have trained staff that assist clients on the telephone, schedule court appearances for me, and gather and organize client files, I personally review every file and the accuracy of correspondence to all my clients. My signature in blue on letters to clients indicates that I have personally reviewed your file and have signed each client letter.
Las Vegas Justice Court takes between 3 to 7 business days to update its website with results
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Many of my clients are tech savvy, and as such monitor my performance by visiting the Clark County Justice Court Site at https://www.clarkcountycourts.us/Anonymous/default.aspx to see if I appear when the Las Vegas Justice Court (LVJC) has scheduled a hearing on their matter. I like this because it provides my clients, and the public as a whole, transparency as to what is going on with their traffic citation. However, because of staffing problems due to state budget cuts, the LVJC takes any where between 3 to 7 business days to update it system. The effect is savvy internet users obtain outdated information -- that dates have been missed on my part. Nothing could be farther than the truth. Since I was a public defender in 1996 back in Michigan, I take it personally when a client goes to jail - especially on minor traffic citation issues. Because I have been doing this for 10 years in Nevada, I have created and implemented a sophisticated calendaring system to assist me in keeping my appointments.
At the LVJC site, information about minor traffic citations can easily be obtained. Among the information that can be obtained on the Register of Actions are the names to whom a traffic ticket is issued, the ticket number, date of stop, violations in issue, and the date of the next court appearance. As my clients know, because LVJC court changes the date to an attorney session that usually is after the date stated on the citation (the LVJC usually takes 3 to 7 business days to update the Register of Action of the new date). Not knowing whether I appeared causes real concern that a warrant has been issued for their arrest. While I have taken care of tens of thousands of citations and understand what happens, the general population does not. Thus stress ensues. My job is to relieve this concern. As such, I write to all my clients that must appear before the LVJC to tell them of the new date the court has selected for me to appear on their matter. This is intended to relieve concerns that I missed the initial date.
Then the date comes for me to appear in LVJC on clients’ Traffic Tickets. I timely appear at the scheduled court department. With results in hand, I return to the office and begin writing letters to clients advising them of their results. I have promised and have kept that my letters go out to clients no later than 7 to 10 business days. Many times letters go out within 4 business days of my appearance. Again, internet savvy users go to the LVJC website the day of, or within a couple of days after my appearance, and obtain outdated information that essentially leads to the belief that I did not appear. Client stress generally results and is followed by a telephone call to my office accusing us of not doing our job as promised. In fact we can predict with relative accuracy of the number of distressed clients who will call after an appearance date in LVJC. We are always happy to talk to our clients, in a matter of fact way, to advise them of the outdated information. But please understand because the LVJC does not timely update its site, that my office (and I am willing to bet other traffic citation resolution business offices) receives a flood of phone calls with stressed out people on the other end. Through no fault of ours, we are being held responsible for something we cannot control - the LVJC timely updating its website with results. I have written the Chief Judge of the Las Vegas Justice Court regarding this very issue. I will enter another blog entry describing the resolution when I feel this issue has been fixed.
Las Vegas Justice Court Confirms The General Public's Equal Access
Sunday April 26, 2009
On March 18th, 2009, most of the major traffic citation resolution attorneys attended a meeting with the Chief Judge of the Las Vegas Justice Court (LVJC) to announce new procedures that it will impose and discuss how to possibly modify and coordinate the implementation of the new procedures with attorneys and with the general public.
The overriding theme the Chief Judge emphasized was the desire of the LVJC to improve equal access to justice of the general public in resolving traffic citations. I could not agree more with this move. Anytime a court improves and gives the public easier access to resolving their legal problems without the assistance of attorneys the better. The desire of the LVJC lands squarely on all fours with my business model. See my blog entry on June 22, 2008 where in I discuss whether on traffic ticket resolution business get better deals then others. In that entry one of the salient things I said, “[g]enerally speaking, traffic citation resolutions services are just for convenience to save you time and money.” That statement could not be more true now.
Starting on July 1, 2009 the General Public will only have to appear twice to get the same deal as attorneys.
I understand in the recent years the LVJC would require the general public to appear three (3) to four (4) times to finally see a judge to resolve their traffic ticket. Starting July 1, 2009, the LVJC has reduce the required appearance of the general public to two (2) appearances, the first appearance is to set-up a date to see the judge, and second appearance is to actually see the judge. See also Frequently Asked Questions 4 and answer. According to the Chief Judge, if someone is willing to spend the time to appear twice, the LVJC will give that person the same deal as though represented by an attorney. The legalese for someone appearing on their own behalf is “pro se.” Be aware there is a caveat! The pro se must be prepared to have all the documentation, if necessary, to resolve the matter as though represented by an attorney. In other words if a driver received a violation for no insurance, or vehicle registration, or broken tale light at the time and date of the stop, the pro se should have the appropriate proof to show the judge.
With this in mind, people who are requesting assistance from traffic citation resolution businesses need to determine if they want to pay high billboard prices or for ending up at the back of a bus for a service whose real value is $45.00, give or take. Hum? If you choose to request help from a traffic citation resolution business, the question you should ask is: For a single violation, should I pay $45.00 to ETrafficCitation.com or $150.00 (likely more)? You should understand that, if you only obtain information from a billboard or from a sign on the back of a bus when choosing a traffic citation resolutions business, all you are doing is paying significantly higher prices for advertising.
Starting on July 1, 2009, the LVJC will now look back to prior 12 months history of a driver in determining whether to reduce a moving violation to an illegal parking ticket.
Something else you should be aware of, when evaluating whether to reduce your moving violation traffic ticket to an illegal parking ticket, the LVJC will look back into its records for the past twelve (12) months ending on the date of the traffic ticket that is before the court. It will look to see if you had previous violations that were reduced to illegal parking tickets. If the LVJC finds that a person has a prior moving violation reduced to a illegal parking ticket within the previous 12 months, it will not be as lenient in reducing the current traffic ticket before the court to illegal parking. While the LVJC does not have access to other court records, I was told that all the local courts are working on linking their systems to have broader access to information. As I find out more, I will post another article.
Do You Really Want To Sit With All Of These People?
Friday August 8, 2008
While I was waiting for my turn to speak to the clerks for the the Las Vegas Township Justice Court and the Las Vegas Municipal Court, I thought I would snap this shot for you. The photo was taken Friday, August 8, 2008, at approximately 4:30 p.m. Notice in the back ground how many windows are closed. This photo shows approximately 10 service windows available to help you, but only 4 are open. All-in-all this area of the Regional Justice Center in down town Las Vegas has approximately 28 services windows. While more windows are often open, you still end up waiting a while. Find a seat in this photo. I ended up standing while waiting for my turn. The day before while I was waiting, I accidently sat in freshly placed gum. Yuck!
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