Illinois DUI Attorney, Jerald Novak, Certified in Field Sobriety Testing and Instruction

Jerald Novak is the first and only Defense Lawyer in Lake County, Illinois, to be certified as both a field sobriety test instructor and practitioner.

Illinois DUI attorney Jerald Novak was recently certified by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) as both a practitioner and instructor of standardized field sobriety testing. By becoming certified as a field sobriety test instructor, Novak is able to aggressively defend his clients charged with a DUI by thoroughly and accurately analyzing the field sobriety tests. In doing so, he often discovers errors and inconsistencies in the state’s case against his clients.

“I am actually certified to teach police officers how to correctly perform the battery of field sobriety tests,” said Jerald Novak. “This advanced knowledge of field sobriety tests has allowed me to be much more effective in defending my clients against improperly administered DUI tests. Nothing surprises the police officers more than when I point out the errors they’ve made when administering these tests.”

Field sobriety tests are standardized, meaning that there is a defined process for administering them to drivers suspected of DUI. However, just because an officer is supposed to administer the test in a certain way does not mean that he or she actually does. In fact, most times, roadside DUI tests are administered incorrectly. The standardized field sobriety test training also revealed a variety of physical and psychological reasons that a person could fail these field sobriety tests without actually being impaired.

“It is impossible to pass a test that has been administered improperly,” said Novak, “While a test that has been incorrectly administered is not necessarily the sign of a bad cop, it is a sign that the DUI charges in play should be called into question.”

Jerald Novak & Associates, based in Grayslake, Illinois, focuses its practice almost exclusively on DUI defense and license reinstatement hearings. At present, Jerald Novak is the only DUI defense attorney in Lake County, Illinois, with both practitioner and instructor certificates in the administration of field sobriety tests. He is also one of only a few attorneys in the state that is a member of the National College for DUI Defense.