Legal Question in Criminal Law in Louisiana

You need to find another lawyer immediately and have the attachment (warrant) recalled. The Court will certainly do it and will waive the fine under the circumstances. Find another lawyer first and get the DWI taken care of. That is job 1 for you.

If your attorney died and he was the only attorney in his firm, the firm sort of died with him. As for the money you paid the attorney, the Louisiana Bar Association does have a fund that MAY be able to help you. Either the Disciplinary Board or the Bar Association (I'm not positive which one) keeps funds on hand to repay clients who have been cheated out of money by dishonest lawyers. Your lawyer was not dishonest and he didn't cheat you, but your circumstance certainly may warrant a repayment of the fee from the fund. I'm sure this isn't the first time this has happened, so the Bar Association will probably know what to do to help you.

After you clear the DWI (and you should REALLY do that first), contact the Louisiana Bar Association and tell them your story. Ask them if you can make any sort of claim to get your fee back. I honestly don't know the answer, but it is worth asking. The Bar Association is online at www.lsba.org.