The National College for DUI Defense®, Inc. (NCDD) is a professional, non-profit corporation dedicated to the improvement of the criminal defense bar, and to the dissemination of information to the public about DUI Defense Law as a specialty area of law practice. The National College is headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama.It consists of a governing Board of Regents, a Founding Membership, a Sustaining Membership and a General Membership.
College members represent the most experienced DUI defense attorneys in the country. The original Founding Members funded the establishment of the college, and are among the top DUI practitioners in the United States. Since its founding, the College continues to recognize, as Sustaining Members, defense lawyers who have demonstrated the skill and experience of the original Founding Members, as well as the generosity to financially sustain the growth of the NCDD. General Members are the backbone of the college—capable, experienced attorneys who dedicate a portion of their practice to the defense of DUI cases throughout the country.
When the National College for DUI Defense® was founded, the Board of Regents envisioned a Board Certification program as the culmination of its program of education. In 1999, the Board instituted Board Certification as a means of recognizing lawyers within the college who exemplify the program’s standards, and who meet the criteria established by the Board of Regents: extensive experience trying DUI cases and litigating pre-trial issues, a broad knowledge of the science involved in testing for intoxicants, and a command of the legal process on which DUI cases are framed.
The American Bar Association, in 2003, recognized DUI Defense Law as a specialty area in the practice of law, and in 2004 the ABA awarded its “Certificate of Accreditation” to the Board Certification program of the National College for DUI Defense®. The NCDD is the only organization in the country accredited to certify lawyers in the DUI Defense Law specialty practice area. ABA accreditation is currently recognized in 20 states. Please check your own state’s rules for certification.
The members of the College welcome you to our website. As it continues to grow, and provide additional information, we hope you will have the occasion to visit us again.
Few offenses in America’s criminal justice process call for greater attorney expertise than cases involving driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. DUI cases are especially complex because they require defense counsel to understand scientific, as well as legal processes. The legal issues are wide-ranging, involving search and seizure, due process, illegal interrogation, denial of counsel, and evidentiary issues. These legal issues intersect in a DUI case with scientific areas of expertise, such as anatomy, biology, chemistry, physiology, and toxicology, as well as pseudo-scientific areas such as field sobriety testing. DUI defense counsel must also have a working understanding of the operation of breath test equipment, hospital testing equipment, and instruments utilized by forensic laboratories in the process of testing for intoxicants.
It is the mission of the National College for DUI Defense® to provide the finest advanced-level training available to the DUI Defense Law practitioner. The College offers, or co-sponsors, a minimum of four legal and scientific seminars each year. The Summer Session, conducted at the Harvard Law School in July, is the signature program to develop skills for trial, including methods for attacking field sobriety tests, breath and blood tests, for making opening statements and closing arguments, for learning techniques in cross-examining police officers and prosecution experts, and for developing and using defense expert witnesses. The Summer Session is limited in size, to preserve the lowest student/faculty ratio. Approximately one hundred and forty lawyers from around the country are accepted each year for the program conducted at Harvard.
The College also conducts a Winter Session in January of each year at varying locations, and co-sponsors, with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, a seminar each October in Las Vegas. The October seminar is believed to be the largest criminal defense seminar of its type, regularly attended by more than five hundred lawyers from all over the country. The College also co-sponsors “Mastering Scientific Evidence” an intensive advanced three day seminar dedicated to perfecting the latest trial skills and applying them to current issues in forensic toxicology and other DUI related scientific disciplines. If there is a need for possible financial assistance please contact our Executive Director.
In sum, the mission of the college is to vindicate the promise of the United States Constitution, that a citizen accused has the right to the effective assistance of his or her counsel.
NCDD and NACDL is proud to announce the Rock Stars of DUI Defense, the nation’s largest DUI Defense CLE, will once again be held at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, NV.
SAVE THE DATE; NCDD is proud to announce that our Winter Session will be dedicated exclusively to defending the prescription medication DUI. This event will be held at Loews Midtown Atlanta right in the heart of the city.
In a recent appeal, No. 112828, I argued that Kansas can no longer use some Missouri DUI convictions because the acts prohibited by Missouri’s law differs from the acts prohibited by Kansas’ law. The Kansas Court of Appeals agreed and the Kansas Supreme Court recently ...
I have an appeal pending that addresses, in part, the State’s ability to comment upon the Defendant’s right to refuse a warrantless search. Georgia has well-established case law that precludes the State from commenting upon a Defendant’s refusal to submit to a warrantless in “traditional” ...
The National Forensic Science Commission has fully reported on its last two meetings. Of concern, currently there are no practicing private criminal defense attorneys on the Commission. As of meeting ten, the Commission has come up with 14 recommendations to the United States Attorney General. ...
We at NCDD honor the lives of those we lost in 2016:
Richard Koch was a 1971 graduate of the University of Nebraska Law School, a founding member of the Koch & Garvis law firm, and helped found the National College of DUI Defense, as well as the Minnesota Society for Criminal ...
This week’s member in the spotlight is Jim Medley of Houston, Texas. Jim was born in Port Arthur, Texas. He was raised in an even smaller town nearby called Bridge City. This area of Southeast Texas is sometimes called the Golden Triangle. Jim grew up with the dream of becoming a police ...
The NCDD’s Member in the Spotlight is Michael Rajek of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Michael was born and raised in Merrill, Wisconsin. He played four years of college football at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. He was a grad assistant to the University of Oklahoma football team, while ...
This week’s Member in the Spotlight is Peter Gerstenzang of Albany, New York. Peter has practiced law for over 45 years. The State Bar of New York recently honored him in 2016 with a distinguished service award: “Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Criminal Law.” Peter has honorably ...
NCDD’s Member in the Spotlight: Doug Wells
The National College of DUI Defense’s Member in the Spotlight is Douglas Wells of Topeka, Kansas. Doug has practiced law for over 35 years. He was born with law in his blood. His father was an attorney and judge. His mother was a district ...
Breath test are based on assumptions. Assumptions that there is a ratio between the alcohol in the blood and the alcohol in the breath. These assumptions are based on Henry’s law. A law that states in a closed container, at a constant temperature and a constant pressure, you can calculate a ratio ...
After nearly a week in Arlington, I had the chance to learn what a lab should do, and how to utilize those skills in trial. Serious Science: Drug Specimen Analysis gave me the tools to show where the government technicians make their mistakes, and why it makes a difference.
One area which leads ...
One of the benefits of being a member is access to the virtual library. It is filled with numerous articles, manuals and presentations about what you might be looking for. This library is easy to search and easy to use, but there is one catch. You have to be in the google world.
In order to access ...
We know government labs create a conveyor belt mentality in its testing process. They force the techs to push through as many samples as they can, and they fail to properly train these techs on what to look for, and how to ensure there are no problems in the run. When a tech sees a problem, they do ...
When you join the National College for DUI Defense, it’s like adding 1300 lawyers to your knowledge base and to your law firm. The NCDD listserver provides members access to lawyers and advice that will change a difficult case to one with copies of motions, ideas, and assistance unlike anything you may have received in the past. And you will win more cases.
Myth #1: Breath means alveolar air
The alcohol breath test is the most commonly used form of alcohol testing evidence in drunk driving prosecutions. Many articles praise the breath test as a highly accurate and reliable means of testing the amount of alcohol in the alveolar air of a person at the time of the test, assuming certain safeguards are met. ...
We would like to introduce our Faculty. Through their tireless efforts, they help make our Organization great. Please browse our roster to find a Faculty Member near you.
The majority of States recognize that the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test is scientific evidence.i As a scientific test it generally requires expert testimony for admissibility. Even States that have found, as a matter of law, that the scientific basis for HGN and the general method of applying it are sufficiently reliable to allow admission without proof of these elements in each case, generally require some degree of proof that the test was administered correctly on the occasion in question. ...
