What a Lawyer Costs
What hiring a lawyer for a Virginia traffic or reckless driving charge costs, what the court itself charges, and the one fee figure Virginia law fixes in writing.
2 guides
Private legal fees are not published anywhere official, and no honest page can quote one as a fact. What Virginia does publish is what it pays a lawyer it appoints: under § 19.2-163 court-appointed counsel in a district court is capped at $330 for an ordinary misdemeanor, or $448 for a DUI-type charge, with up to $120 more at the judge's discretion. That is the only figure fixed in writing anywhere in Virginia law for defending a misdemeanor, and it is the floor a reader can reason from.
The court's own charges are fixed too, and are separate from any fee. Section 16.1-69.48:1 sets the district court's fixed fee at $61 for a misdemeanor and $51 for a traffic infraction, and § 46.2-878.3 sets the prepayable speeding fine at $6 for each mile per hour over the limit. Those are the numbers on the bill whether or not anyone is hired.
These pages set out what actually drives the price of representation — the charge class, whether the case can be resolved in one appearance, whether evidence has to be subpoenaed — and what a reader can do without paying anyone.
All guides
- What a Reckless Driving Lawyer Costs in Virginia
What a reckless driving lawyer costs in Virginia: no fee is published, but the $330 counsel cap, the $61 court fee and 12 months' jail exposure are fixed.
- What a Traffic Lawyer Costs in Virginia, Bill by Bill
Private fees are unpublished, but the rest of a Virginia traffic lawyer's cost is fixed: $6 per mph fines, a $51 or $61 court fee, a $330 counsel cap.