Law Office of Carl M. Ward

To Our Valued Clients and Friends: We at The Law Office of Carl M. Ward remain available to serve you in light of the National, State, and County Declarations of Emergency regarding COVID-19. However, in the interests of the safety for our staff, our clients, and our community, we made the important decision to close our physical office effective immediately. Despite our absence from our physical office, we remain available, ready and able to help you with your legal needs d...uring this time. Documents may be mailed to our office or placed in the mail slot accessible from the sidewalk out front. Our main office phone line will be answered, and calls and messages will be directed to Mr. Ward and his staff working from their homes. Mr. Ward will make appropriate arrangements to confer with clients remotely via telephone, or make other arrangements when necessary. Payments may be made safely and securely through our secure payment portal: http://bit.ly/carlward While our absence from the office may result in small delays in response time, we are committed to minimizing these as much as practical. For those seeking legal services, our staff will continue to respond to your calls and will direct your matters and questions to Mr. Ward for review and consideration. We will continue the high quality of work product our clients have experienced over more than 30 years of practice, but we ask that you bear with us in these uncharted times. We do not know how long this crisis will last, and cannot predict when our physical office will reopen. The Missouri Supreme Court has essentially ordered all courts to reschedule the vast majority of cases through April 3, 2020, but we anticipate that this date will be extended. We wish each of you and your families health and safety in the days and weeks to come. Sincerely, Carl M. Ward

On Thursday, July 18th, Mr. Ward will be lecturing to more than 200 Missouri lawyers on DWI cases. This will mark the 100th time he has presented on this topic in Missouri. Included in his audiences have been municipal, county and state law enforcement officers, judges, private defense lawyers, prosecutors, attorneys and hearing officers for the Department of Revenue, Missouri public defenders, and court clerks.

Wisconsin v. Mitchell is the latest case on warrantless searches. This case involved a warrantless blood draw from an unconscious driver suspected of DWI. While warrantless searches have been presumptively invalid under the 4th Amendment, SCOTUS appears to have shifted the burden to citizen drivers to establish a lack of exigent and other circumstances for the search. While this opinion could be read more narrowly, and limited to DWI cases, it is my opinion that it has far g...reater significance and will lead to the further erosion of our 4th Amendment rights and the expansion of the exigent circumstances exception. I have always been torn between supporting the appointment of liberal vs. conservative justices to the US Supreme Court. As a rule, conservative justices can be counted on to support our 2nd Amendment, and our right to bear arms. My friends know how I feel about the importance of that right. At the same time, conservatives justices have generally sucked when it comes to protecting our 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures and our 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination. In the Mitchell case, decided on June 27, 2019, the vote of Justice Kavanagh, a conservative appointed by President Trump, was really the deciding vote. I have attached a link below that will allow you to find the full opinion. If nothing else, please read Justice Sotomayor's dissenting opinion. She is one of the liberal justices on the Court, but has been a true defender of our 4th Amendment rights. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18-6210_2co3.pdf

BREAKING NEWS! Client arrested and charged with DWI in northern Missouri. DWI dismissed on 9/12/18.

Congratulations to our very own Carl Ward for winning the National College for DUI Defense 2018 Leadership Award!