By the Templateez Team · Licensed Attorney · June 2026

DUI/DWI Defense Intake Forms: What Every Field Should Capture

A DUI client walks through your door with a court date in three weeks and a story that starts with "I only had two beers." You have roughly 45 minutes to extract every fact that matters. Miss a detail now — the type of breath device used, whether the officer demonstrated the walk-and-turn correctly, whether your client holds a CDL — and you may not realize it until you're standing in front of a judge with an incomplete picture.

Your intake form is the tool that prevents that. Not a generic criminal defense questionnaire, but a DUI-specific form that forces the right questions at the right time. Here is what it needs to capture and why.

BAC and Chemical Test Data

The single most important section on any DUI intake form is the chemical test block. You need the BAC reading, obviously, but the type of test matters just as much as the number.

Breath tests are the most common and the most attackable. Your form should capture the device model (Intoxilyzer 8000, Draeger, DataMaster — each has its own maintenance requirements and known error rates), the time of the test relative to the stop, and whether a 15- or 20-minute observation period was actually observed. A breath test administered six minutes after the stop, with no documented observation period, is a suppression argument waiting to happen.

Blood draws introduce chain-of-custody issues. Record who drew the blood, where, whether a warrant was obtained (and if so, the time elapsed between arrest and the warrant application), and whether your client consented or the draw was compelled. Post-Missouri v. McNeely, warrantless blood draws face serious Fourth Amendment scrutiny in most jurisdictions.

Refusals create their own set of problems. In most states, a refusal triggers an automatic administrative license suspension — often longer than the suspension for a failed test. Your form needs to capture whether the officer read the implied consent advisory, whether your client was told the specific consequences of refusal, and the exact words your client used. "I want to talk to my lawyer first" is not always treated as a refusal, depending on the jurisdiction.

Field Sobriety Tests

Standardized field sobriety tests are only reliable when administered according to NHTSA protocol. Your intake form should capture each test separately:

Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN)

Did the officer use a stimulus (pen, finger, penlight)? Did they hold it 12–15 inches from your client's face? Did they check for equal pupil size and resting nystagmus first? Did they make at least two passes per eye? Most officers skip steps. Your client won't remember these details in two months, so get them now.

Walk-and-Turn

Where was the test performed — on a line, a curb, or an imaginary line on uneven gravel? Was your client wearing heels, boots, or sandals? Was the instruction phase separated from the walking phase? How many steps were requested? NHTSA says nine heel-to-toe, but officers frequently deviate.

One-Leg Stand

Which foot was raised? For how many seconds? Was the surface level? Were there distracting conditions — traffic, flashing lights, weather? A 62-year-old client with a knee replacement failing the one-leg stand tells a very different story than a healthy 25-year-old.

Also capture whether any non-standardized tests were administered (finger-to-nose, alphabet recitation, counting backwards). These carry far less evidentiary weight, but officers still use them, and juries still hear about them.

The Stop Itself

Every DUI defense starts with probable cause. Your form needs a dedicated section for the circumstances of the stop:

• Traffic violation stop — what violation? Weaving within the lane is not the same as crossing the center line.
• Checkpoint/roadblock — was it pre-announced? Were vehicles stopped according to a neutral formula?
• Anonymous tip — how specific was the tip? Did the officer independently corroborate before the stop?
• Accident scene — was your client driving, or found near the vehicle?

Record the time of day, lighting conditions, road surface, and weather. These details matter for both the stop challenge and the field sobriety argument. If you also handle general criminal defense matters, you know that probable cause analysis drives every suppression motion — DUI is no different.

Prior Offenses and Look-Back Periods

A first-offense DUI is a misdemeanor in every state. A second or third within the look-back period can be a felony, and the look-back window varies dramatically: 5 years in some states, 10 in others, and lifetime in a handful. Your form needs to capture every prior DUI or DWI arrest and conviction — not just in the current state, but nationwide. Include the date, jurisdiction, disposition, and whether the client completed all conditions (probation, classes, community service).

Don't just ask "any prior DUIs." Ask specifically about wet reckless pleas, deferred adjudications, and diversion completions. In many states, a completed diversion still counts as a prior for enhancement purposes. Your client may not think to mention a wet reckless from eight years ago unless you ask.

License Status and CDL Implications

Capture your client's current license status at intake: valid, suspended, restricted, revoked, or expired. If the license is already suspended from a prior offense, the new charge may carry additional penalties for driving on a suspended license — sometimes a separate criminal charge entirely.

Commercial Driver's License Holders

CDL holders face a lower BAC threshold — 0.04% in a commercial vehicle under federal FMCSA regulations, compared to the standard 0.08%. But here's what many attorneys miss: a DUI conviction in a personal vehicle still triggers a one-year CDL disqualification for a first offense, and a lifetime disqualification for a second. For a long-haul trucker or delivery driver, a DUI conviction effectively ends their career. Your intake form needs a clear CDL flag because it changes the entire calculus of the case — a client facing career destruction has a very different risk tolerance for plea negotiations.

Plea, Trial Timeline, and Mandatory Minimums

Your intake form should document whether the client has an initial preference toward negotiation or trial, but more importantly, it should capture the facts that drive that decision. Record the arraignment date, any pretrial conference dates already set, and whether the client is on bond or OR release.

Mandatory minimums vary by state and offense level, but your form should prompt you to note the applicable range. A second-offense DUI in many jurisdictions carries mandatory jail time (often 10–30 days), mandatory ignition interlock installation for 1–3 years, and mandatory substance abuse evaluation. These aren't negotiable — the judge can't go below them. If your client doesn't understand mandatory minimums at intake, they'll be blindsided later.

Ignition Interlock and Substance Abuse Evaluation

Many states now require ignition interlock devices (IIDs) even for first offenses, particularly at higher BAC levels (typically 0.15% or above). Your form should capture whether the client owns the vehicle, whether it's leased (some lease agreements prohibit IID installation), and whether the client has access to alternative transportation during any hard suspension period before IID eligibility.

Substance abuse evaluations are mandatory in most jurisdictions before sentencing. Capture any prior treatment history, current substance use patterns, and whether the client is willing to enter treatment proactively — voluntary enrollment before sentencing is one of the most effective mitigation tools you have.

Why a Purpose-Built Form Matters

You can run a DUI practice on a generic criminal defense intake form. Plenty of attorneys do. But you'll spend every first meeting asking follow-up questions that a DUI-specific form would have prompted automatically. Worse, you'll occasionally miss something — the CDL you didn't ask about, the prior wet reckless in another state, the breath test administered without an observation period — and you won't realize it until it's too late to build the defense around it.

A structured DUI intake form turns every first meeting into a complete evidence-gathering session. It ensures your paralegal or associate captures the same information you would, and it gives you a document you can hand to an expert witness when you need a toxicologist to review the BAC data or a field sobriety expert to evaluate the stop.

If you're building out a full criminal defense practice, pair your DUI forms with a general criminal defense intake set and consider the complete Legal Bundle that covers the full range of practice areas.