San Francisco County DUI

San Francisco County DUI

505 Montgomery Street, 11th Floor
San Francisco, California 94111

Email: Bay Area DUI Lawyer
Phone: 415-552-6000
Fax: 415-552-6099
Toll Free: 800-254-0000

The Law Office of Robert Tayac is recognized as being among the top driving under the influence (DUI) defense firms in California. Attorneys for this San Francisco based law firm represent clients accused of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in San Francisco, California.

A lawyer representing a person arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) or driving with a blood alcohol level at or above the legal limit in San Francisco must appear at the San Francisco Superior Court. In addition, a person arrested for a DUI in San Francisco will have a separate California DMV license suspension action stemming from an arrest for driving with a blood alcohol level at or above the legal limit. This second DUI case will be before the Department of Motor Vehicles' Driver Safety Office located at 1377 Fell Street, San Francisco. The DUI criminal case is unrelated to the Department of Motor Vehicles DUI case.

Each of our attorneys specialize in DUI defense in San Francisco and is a member of professional organizations whose focus is related to this practice area, including the National College for DUI Defense (NCDD), California DUI Lawyers Association (CDLA), National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ), and California Public Defenders Association (CPDA). Additionally, each attorney is familiar with the specific procedures of the San Francisco Superior Court. The firm accepts no other type of case other than a California DUI or DMV cases and does not represent clients in any court or tribunal outside of the State of California.

A DUI arrest in San Francisco will most often initiate two separate cases. The first case is the DUI criminal case which will be prosecuted by the District Attorney's office at the San Francisco Hall of Justice. The San Francisco District Attorney will usually charge a person arrested for DUI with at least two separate criminal violations following a DUI arrest made by a California Highway Patrol officer, San Francisco County Deputy Sheriff, or a San Francisco Police Officer. The first DUI charge is for driving under the influence of alcohol, medication or drugs in violation of California Vehicle Code section 23152, subdivision (a). The second DUI charge is for driving with a blood alcohol level (BAC) at or above the legal limit of .08 percent or greater in violation of Vehicle Code Section 23152, subdivision (b). If an arrest involved an accident resulting in an injury to a person other than the individual arrested for driving under the influence, a more serious felony DUI may be charged by the San Francisco District Attorney in violation of California Vehicle Code section 23153, subdivision (a)(b).

The second DUI case is a California Department of Motor Vehicles administrative per se (APS) license suspension case, in which the privilege of the person arrested for DUI is at risk of being suspended. Drivers arrested for driving with a blood alcohol concentration of .08% or higher in California have only 10 days from the date of arrest to request a DMV administrative per se (APS) hearing. If a DMV hearing is not requested within ten (10) days of the arrest, any California driver's license will automatically be suspended thirty (30) days from the date of the arrest for a minimum of four (4) months. If the person arrested in San Francisco for DUI has an out of state driver license, the privilege of that person to drive within the State of California will be suspended indefinitely thirty (30) days from the date of the arrest and will usually not be restored until a California DUI school is completed. Additionally, a driving suspension imposed by the California Department of Motor Vehicles for a DUI will usually lead to an additional case being initiated by the agency which issued out of state driver's license.

California DMV hearings are technically complex, and should only be handled by a lawyer with extensive experience handling DUI cases and California DMV cases. To suspend a driver's license, the California Department of Motor Vehicles need only prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the police had reasonable cause to believe a violation of California Vehicle Code Section 23152 or Vehicle Code Section 23153 was committed, that the arrest was lawful, and that the driver had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 percent or greater. California DMV administrative hearings can be won, but usually only by an attorney with specialized knowledge of the hearing process, the type of evidence presented and familiarity with the possible defenses.

The stakes are high in a drunk driving case. A motorist accused of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs faces the possibility of jail, large fines, driver’s license suspensions, mandatory alcohol education classes, ignition interlock devices, and other punishment. For that reason, it is imperative that you have only a qualified San Francisco DUI lawyer handle your case. If you or someone you know has been or may be accused of driving under the influence, or driving with a blood alcohol level at or above the legal limit in San Francisco, we invite you to read the information contained in this website and welcome you to call our office and discuss your case with one of the lawyers of our firm. If you prefer, you may submit a confidential case questionnaire which will be reviewed by an experienced DUI defense lawyer and receive a prompt response.

The City and County of San Francisco General Information

San Francisco City Hall The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 14th most populous city in the United States, with a 2006 estimated population of 744,041. One of the most densely populated major cities in the U.S., San Francisco is part of the much larger San Francisco Bay Area, which is home to approximately 7.2 million people.

The county is in the San Francisco-Oakland metro area. The city is located on the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, with the Pacific Ocean to the west, San Francisco Bay to the east, and the Golden Gate to the north.

San Francisco is a popular international tourist destination famous for its landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, the cable cars, Coit Tower, and Chinatown, its steep rolling hills, and its eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture. The historic center of San Francisco is the northeast quadrant of the city bordered by Market Street to the south. It is here that the Financial District is centered, with Union Square, the principal shopping and hotel district, nearby. Cable cars carry residents and tourists alike up steep inclines to the summit of Nob Hill, once the home of the city's business tycoons, and down to Fisherman's Wharf, a tourist area featuring Dungeness crab from a still-active fishing industry.

San Francisco DUI The legacy of the California Gold Rush turned San Francisco into the principal banking and finance center of the West Coast in the early twentieth century. Montgomery Street in the Financial District became known as the "Wall Street of the West", home to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the Wells Fargo corporate headquarters, and the site of the now-defunct Pacific Coast Stock Exchange. Bank of America, a pioneer in making banking services accessible to the middle class, was founded in San Francisco and in the 1960s, built the landmark modern skyscraper at 555 California Street for its corporate headquarters. Many large financial institutions, multinational banks and venture capital firms are based in or have regional headquarters in the city. With over 30 international financial institutions, six Fortune 500 companies, and a large support infrastructure of professional services—including law, public relations, architecture and design—also with significant presence in the city, San Francisco is designated as one of the ten Beta World Cities. The city ranks fifteenth in the world's list of cities by GDP and eighth in the United States.