Houston Practice Areas and Courts

Blass Law handles two kinds of cases in Houston: criminal defense, and personal injury cases where someone else caused the harm. They sound like separate practices, but they run on the same skills. A DWI defense lawyer spends every day taking apart breath tests, blood results, police reports and dashcam video, and that’s exactly the work it takes to prove the driver who hit you was drunk. Jay Blass Cohen was born and raised in Houston and has practiced here since 2009. He has never worked for the prosecution. He’s an ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist and a certified Drug Recognition Expert, so he knows the chemistry and the police procedure well enough to turn them against whoever is on the other side.

Call (713) 664-4000. If you’ve been arrested, everything you tell us is confidential. If you’ve been hurt, the consultation is free, and there’s no fee unless we recover for you. If we don’t recover, you don’t owe us for case expenses either.

If you’ve been arrested or charged in Houston

Most Houston criminal cases are heard at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center at 1201 Franklin. Misdemeanors, like a first DWI or an assault causing bodily injury, go to the county criminal courts at law, and felonies go to the district courts in the same building. In most cases a magistrate sets bond within a day of the arrest, and the bond comes with conditions, like no contact with the complaining witness in a family violence case or an ignition interlock in a lot of DWI cases. Breaking a bond condition can put you back in jail before your case is ever heard.

The first weeks decide more than people expect. After a DWI arrest, DPS has to receive your request for an ALR hearing within 15 days of the notice of suspension, or the suspension of your license goes into effect without one (Transportation Code §§ 524.031, 724.041). Video from a patrol car, a body camera, a doorbell camera or a business down the street can be recorded over if nobody asks for it. And police want your statement before you have a lawyer, because it’s the easiest evidence they’ll ever get. Don’t give one. Call us first.

We defend DWI and intoxication cases, assault and family violence, drug charges from simple possession to federal trafficking, sex offenses, weapons charges, theft and property crimes, and probation violations. When a case is over, we clear records through expunction and nondisclosure. Our Houston criminal defense page covers how we fight these cases from the first day. A dismissal doesn’t take an arrest off your record on its own. Someone has to file for that.

If you were hurt in Houston

The insurance company starts building its case the day of the wreck or the fall. The adjuster will ask for a recorded statement and make an early offer before anyone knows how bad the injury is. Texas law gives the insurer room to work with: if a jury finds you more than 50 percent at fault, you recover nothing (Civil Practice and Remedies Code §§ 33.001, 33.012), so a lot of the adjuster’s friendly questions are really about blame.

You generally have two years to file suit (§ 16.003). A claim against a government entity, like a Metro bus or a city truck, needs written notice within six months (§ 101.101), and the City of Houston requires sworn notice within 90 days. We handle car and 18-wheeler wrecks, drunk driving crashes, rideshare accidents, falls on unsafe property, maritime and offshore injuries, and wrongful death. When the other driver was drunk or high, Jay’s DWI background goes to work proving it. Our Houston personal injury page walks through how an injury case moves from the first call to a settlement or a verdict.

Results

A Harris County client accused of being the shooter in a capital murder case was found not guilty, with Jay as co-counsel. A Harris County jury acquitted another client of DWI after a .242 breath test. We got a case involving 46 kilos of cocaine dismissed, and a felony third DWI dismissed after the judge granted the motion to suppress (again with Jay as co-counsel). On the injury side, we recovered a $2.95 million settlement for a client rear-ended by a commercial truck driver who was following too closely, and $300,000 for a client whose hand was injured by a defective blender. See our criminal case results and our settlements and verdicts. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

What our clients say

“Attorney Cohen answered all my questions… I’m very happy with my service he and his staff provided!! Go to him!!!! He will fight for you!!!” Tammy T.

“Throughout the case, the Blass Law staff was always courteous and helpful. Jay was always available to answer our questions…” Mike K.

“[Mr. Cohen] tells you the truth and… fights his hardest for your case…” Edward E.

If we’ve helped you, you can leave us a review.

Charged or hurt in Houston? Call Blass Law

A criminal case and an injury claim are both decided early, by evidence that disappears if nobody locks it down. We start on that evidence the day you hire us, and we prepare every case as if it’s going to trial, because that’s what gets prosecutors and insurers to take it seriously.

Call (713) 664-4000. If it happened this week, call now.

Our Houston practice areas

Criminal defense

Personal injury

Criminal cases in Harris County are heard at 1201 Franklin, civil cases at 201 Caroline, appeals at 301 Fannin, and most tickets and Class C cases written by Houston police at the municipal court at 1400 Lubbock. Our Harris County criminal court directory and civil court directory list each court’s judge and phone number.

Other Houston charges we defend

Not every case that starts with a traffic stop ends as a DWI. Racing on a public road is its own offense, and so is driving in a way a jury could be told was reckless, which is what our pages on street racing and reckless driving cover. Leaving the scene gets charged separately from whatever caused the wreck, and that is the heart of a hit and run case. The two charges people pick up in the minutes after a stop, evading arrest and resisting arrest, often carry more exposure than the reason the officer pulled them over. And if this is not your first, a third-offense DWI is a felony and has to be treated like one from day one.

Property cases turn on value and on intent, and both are more arguable than people assume. We defend theft, burglary, robbery, and criminal mischief charges across Harris County, along with the two that tend to catch younger clients off guard: a fake ID and disorderly conduct.

Some charges carry a weight the sentence alone does not capture. Kidnapping and unlawful restraint cases often grow out of a domestic argument that got reframed after the fact. Injury to a child, an elderly person, or a disabled person brings enhanced penalties and its own set of investigators. An allegation of rape follows you long before a court rules on anything. And if you are already on probation, a probation violation can put you back in custody without any new conviction at all.

Reviewed by Jay Blass Cohen, founder of Blass Law PLLC, ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist, certified Drug Recognition Expert, and SFST instructor, serving Houston since 2009. This article is general information, not legal advice for your situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Our Houston Practice Areas