Strongly disagree.
Lawyers are excellent at getting points taken off.
When you go by yourself it's just your word against the cop, but with a lawyer they always seem to be able to pull some magic.
small mistake. WHen you ask for a point reduction, it has nothing to do with the cop. Very often you speak with an arbitrator without the cop before going into the court room with the judge. The arbitrator has the ability to offer you a deal, and if you have a good driving record, the arbitrator will usually offer you a plea bargain that your ticket will be reduced if you agree to plea guilty. And even if you make it in front of the judge, the you can ask the judge to make the same deal. The only magic the lawyers pull, is they usually do so many cases at the local court houses that the arbitrators know them, and usally give them the same plea bargains on every ticket (obviously depending the driving record of the driver, and the severity of the ticket, but all within the same range). They do have a slight advantage with this, but the expense is not worth the small chance that you won't come out ahead on your own.
And the trick with changing the court date has worked with me twice. and others have reported it working for them too. Not foolproof-but neither is the lawyer.
And Dan, you are right. I wouldn't suggest going head to head with a cop unless you have a very good argument (as I did once fighting a U-turn ticket into a service lane...did some research and found out that legally it is most likely not considered a U-turn- law book is vague, so according to several lawyers it was a great argument which they have found to work many times....turned out I didn't need it as the cop showed without his notes
