Defending Drinking Drivers

About the Authors

Back to the book page

Patrick T. Barone is the principal and founding member of The Barone Defense Firm, whose practice is limited exclusively to defending drinking drivers. The Firm is headquartered in Birmingham, Michigan.

Patrick T. Barone is an adjunct professor at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School where he teaches “Drunk Driving Law and Practice” at their Auburn Hills campus. Mr. Barone lectures nationally on various DUI defense topics, and he has appeared in newspapers, on television and on radio as a drunk driving defense expert.

Patrick T. Barone is the executive editor of The DWI Journal: Law & Science (Whitaker Newsletters, Inc.), a nationally circulated legal periodical dedicated to improving the knowledge and success rate of defense attorneys in drunk driving cases. In addition to Defending Drinking Drivers, Mr. Barone is also the co-author of “The DUI Book.”

Patrick T. Barone authors a monthly column for the Criminal Defense Newsletter, published by the State of Michigan’s State Appellate Defender’s Office. Mr. Barone has written dozens of articles on trial practice and drunk driving defense tactics for various legal journals and periodicals. 

Patrick T. Barone has been certified as an instructor and practitioner of the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests in accordance with the standards set forth by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Partly as a result of this training, Mr. Barone has been judicially qualified as a court expert allowing him to give opinion testimony before a jury regarding issues relating to DUI investigations and police officers’ field sobriety testing protocols. He is believed to be the only attorney in Michigan who has been so qualified.

Patrick T. Barone has also attended a 24-hour certification course at National Patent Analytical Corporation (the manufacturer of the DataMaster) and has thereby been deemed competent by the manufacturer to operate, perform essential diagnostic verifications and calibration checks on the BAC DataMaster.

Patrick T. Barone moderates a statewide network and participates in a national network of other DUI practitioners in order to exchange and share information about new and existing DUI laws, national and local trends in the law, and trial tactics.

Patrick T. Barone is a member of the Michigan and Illinois Bar Associations, The Criminal Defense Association of Michigan, The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is a Sustaining Member of College for DUI Defense.

John Tarantino is a shareholder and Chairman of the Executive Committee in the law firm of Adler Pollock & Sheehan Incorporated in Providence, Rhode Island. He is one of the attorneys who tried and won the landmark case of Durand v. City of Woonsocket, which banned use of evidential breath testing devices throughout Rhode Island where the machines had not been tested for radio frequency interference.

John Tarantino has been involved in many civil and criminal cases dealing with drunk driving, liquor liability and other alcohol related issues and has written and lectured widely on these subjects. He is the author of DWI Defense Forms (2d ed. James Publishing), Strategic Use of Scientific Evidence (Wiley Law Publications), is the Executive Editor of DWI Journal: Law & Science (Whitaker Newsletters), served as author of “The .10% Solution,” a monthly column featured in The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers), dealing with issues of drunk driving, from 1984 through 1990, is the author of the public informational brochure, “What Happens When Drunk Drivers Get Caught?” (Rhode Island Bar Association), and has written more than 200 articles on related topics.

A popular speaker and lecturer, John Tarantino has conducted drunk driving and forensic science seminars for the ABA, ATLA, American Law Institute, Rhode Island Bar Association, Rhode Island Trial Lawyers Association, Massachusetts Bar Association, Rhode Island Law Institute, Ohio Trial Lawyers Association, Capitol University Law School, Connecticut Bar Association, Vermont Trial Lawyers Association, Illinois Public Defenders, Illinois Attorneys for Criminal Justice, Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia, Florida Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, National College for DUI Defense, Law Education Institute, and many other state and local trial lawyer groups.

John Tarantino is also the author of the ATLA Audiotape, Legal and Scientific Challenges to Chemical Tests; the ALI-ABA Audiotape, How to Use Demonstrative Evidence to Defend a Drunk Driving Case; and the Whitaker Newsletter Videotape, Winning at Both Ends: Effective Opening and Closing Statements.

John Tarantino has served as a member of the ABA Criminal Justice Sections, National Committee on Drunk Driving and its Commission on Sanctions and Enforcement Techniques in Alcohol Related Offenses. He has served as a Vice Chairman of the ABA Science and Technology Sections Committee on Scientific Evidence. He is also a Regent and Treasurer for the National College for DUI Defense.

He is a member of the Rhode Island, Massachusetts and United States Supreme Court bars. From 1983 through 1992, he served as Chairman of Public Relations for the Rhode Island Bar Association. He served as Chairman of that Association’s Ethics and Professionalism Committee, in 1997-98, served as President of the Rhode Island Bar and in 2002-2003 served as President of the New England Bar Association.

John Tarantino is a member of DRI, an associate (defense) member of ATLA, a member of Defense Counsel of Rhode Island (where he served as president from 2003-2004 and was awarded the Exceptional Performance Citation), the Massachusetts Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Judicature Society, the ABA Section on Science and Technology, and is a provisional member of the American Academy of Forensic Science. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America® in the areas of Business Litigation, Criminal Defense and Personal Injury.

D9