Request an administrative hearing within 10 days.
In California, an officer is required to confiscate a California driver’s license following a DUI arrest if there was a blood or breath test that registered .08% or more. If the driver had a valid California driver’s license at the time of the arrest, the officer is required to issue an order of suspension and a temporary license. The temporary license expires after 30 days from the date of the DUI arrest, unless the driver requests an administrative hearing through the DMV.
As a practical matter, it's always prudent to request an administrative DMV hearing, if for no other reason than it delays the administrative suspension and allows you to keep driving until that hearing is conducted, and potentially longer depending on the result at the hearing. At the hearing an attorney can 1) learn more information about the case outside the criminal proceedings, 2) occasionally win a favorable result that prevents the administrative suspension from taking effect altogether, and 3) allow the driver more time to plan for the suspension. However, the request for the hearing must be made within ten days of the arrest or the right to a hearing is waived permanently and the suspension will take effect in 30 days.
If you hire a reputable attorney, they will typically handle any DMV hearings as part of your DUI. Representing yourself at an administrative hearing can be problematic because you likely don’t have the expertise to conduct such a hearing, and you may also inadvertently make incriminating statements that can be used against you in the criminal case. Public defenders are typically well-versed in the science and law surrounding DUIs, but their government employment normally precludes them from representing people at DMV hearings. Therefore, if you expect to be represented by the public defender, they will not be able to represent you at any DMV hearings.
Make an effort to remember or record everything that happened leading up to the arrest.
If you were arrested for a DUI, even if you were later released from the jail without seeing a judge, it’s reasonably likely that the prosecutor will be filing criminal charges against you in the future. The police officers who handled the arrest are trained to observe and record everything they witnessed, and that information will be preserved in the police report. To protect yourself it’s important you make similar efforts to record as many details as possible: where you were, what you had to eat and drink, how you were feeling, who you were with, the condition of your car and the roadway, how you were driving, the traffic stop, and your interaction with the officer. Your attorney will interview you regarding this information, but unless you have made efforts to remember or record this information you likely will not be able to recall many important details.
Contact an experienced attorney who handles DUIs and is familiar with the practices in jurisdiction.
Contact an attorney as soon as possible. An attorney will make sure you have already done the two steps above. However, keep in mind all lawyers are not created equal. When looking for a lawyer make sure they are familiar with the science and law surrounding DUIs. You wouldn’t hire a roofer to do electrical work, and the same is true of attorneys. Someone who specializes in wills and trust will not do a good job in a DUI case. Don’t hire someone without litigation experience handling DUIs. Also, local knowledge matters. All counties in California operate under the same laws, but any attorney who has appeared in both urban and rural counties in California will tell you, different courts handle cases very differently, and local knowledge of the particular practices in a specific jurisdiction are important.