Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

In Part 1 of this article, we began discussing how a person can win a Drivers' License Restoration case without going to AA. We began by acknowledging the important role AA played in the genesis of the whole notion of "Recovery," and how AA has provided much of the language we use to talk about Recovery and Sobriety.

In this second part, we will pick up by examining how a person can get "Sober" without AA, and how and why the State recognizes that AA is but one of many viable ways to Recover from an alcohol problem. In other words, we'll discuss how and why a person can win a License Appeal without going to AA.

In the first part of this article, I noted that more than half of my Clients are not actively involved in AA. Of that group, probably half, or maybe even a bit more, have at least been to AA a few times. Some went for years, some for months, and a few for at least a couple of meetings. They all have their reasons for leaving the program, from outright dislike to simply feeling strong enough in their own Sobriety to not feel the need for the kind of support offered by AA. It really doesn't matter why a person left. What matters is that, in the end, they made a conscious decision that they didn't need to go to any more meetings to stay Sober.

Whether a person attended 1000 AA meetings, or only attended 1, they undoubtedly heard the "first step." Many of those who attended AA for a while will often say that they simply "got it," and felt comfortable leaving the program. Those who only went to a few meetings often say they already "had it," and that the notion of not drinking again was something they had already accepted, meaning that AA really didn't offer them anything more than they already had.

Some people just hated AA. They found it to be too "religious," or "cult-like." Some people just don't do well in groups. Again, whatever the reason a person never attended or stopped going to AA, the key thing, at least for a License Appeal, is that they recognize that they cannot drink alcohol anymore. And even if they've never heard of AA's first step, their understanding of their situation parallels that of any AA attendee; I have an alcohol problem, and the only way to "fix" it is to completely stop drinking.

In a License Appeal, the State is looking not only for abstinence from alcohol, but a commitment to remain abstinent. This is where AA provides, or at least used to provide, an advantage. AA both implicitly and explicitly makes clear that the ONLY way to "control" an alcohol problem is to never drink again. There is no room for debate. And however much a person may like or dislike the AA program, on this score, it is 100% correct. The ONLY way to "control" an alcohol problem is to NOT drink. Period.

Continue reading "How to Win a Michigan Driver's License Restoration Appeal Without Being Involved in AA - Part 2" »

Almost every article in the Driver's License Restoration section of this blog examines and explains some part of the License Appeal process, or takes an overview-type look at it. This article will be different. I want to explain why I like this field so much, why I have such passion about it, and how I can come back, week after week, with enough enthusiasm to write yet another License Restoration article.

The first thing I can point out is that there is much happiness in success. I have won 181 of the last 183 License Appeals I have handled in the last nearly two and a half years. In 2010, I won 100% of the cases I filed, and since about June of 2009, having won 181 of the last 183 cases I accepted, my overall win rate is 98.9%. I'm so sure that I'll be successful in any Appeal I take that I guarantee I'll win the first time, or the next is free.

But winning isn't everything.

I certainly would have no such job satisfaction if I was defending murderers and rapists and helping them go free. Nor would I derive any pleasure in representing some big company that steamrolled all over the rights of some average person, and managed to help it escape liability for its actions.

As I said, winning isn't everything.

License Restoration Clients, or at least the people who become my Clients, are people on the upswing in their lives. They're people who have not only had a deep insight into themselves, but who have had the fortitude and drive to make a significant lifestyle change. They are people who now live alcohol-free. And without exception, their lives are better now that they were at the time of their last DUI.

On any number of occasions, I have represented someone on their 2nd or 3rd (or 4th or 7th) DUI, and observed them in denial, blaming the whole situation on some outside, external factor or factors in their life. They don't take responsibility for their own actions, and seem, at least at that point, unready and unwilling to make the changes necessary to prevent it form happening again.

Imagine how nice it is to meet them a few years later, after they've gotten Sober, and hear them talk about the person they used to be in the past tense. It is night and day to stand next to someone facing a Felony DUI who thinks the whole system is out to get them, and then to stand next to that person down the road, when they have the insight to see that it was them that was the problem, and not anyone or anything else.

Continue reading "Michigan Driver's License Restoration Lawyer - The Best Job in the World" »

Sobriety. Few words in the English language can contain so many different, yet related meanings. Depending on the person, the word Sobriety can mean anything from a welcome change of behavior in a family member or friend to the feeling of practically being "born again" in the person who experiences it.

In my line of work as a Driver's License Restoration Lawyer, Sobriety means several things. It is a minimum requirement in order to win a License Appeal. It is the starting point from which my Clients begin to rebuild their lives, and often discover things are better than they ever could have imagined. It is a state of being that cannot be faked, although any number of people try to do just that.

In the rather large collection of articles in the Driver's License Restoration section of my Blog, I examine the License Restoration process in detail, often pointing out that central to any winning License Appeal is the story of a person's Recovery. I have also pointed out that, beyond just looking for Clients to pay my Fee for a License Restoration Appeal, I am looking for people who really, truly have achieved that wonderful state of Sobriety.

The truth is that I've grown used to winning License Appeals. In fact, I'm so confident in my ability to win a License Appeal that I recently added a guarantee in my License cases promising that if I don't win a Client's first License Appeal, the next one is FREE! A necessary component of that success, however, is screening my Clients to make sure they really have gotten Sober.

Merely not drinking is a far cry from real Sobriety. Anyone who is truly Sober knows this, while anyone who isn't is wondering what the big difference is, anyway.

I have had people sit across from me and tell me that they'll say whatever I want them to, but that in reality, no one is going to tell them not to have a glass of wine, or a bottle of beer, every now and then with dinner. I've declined representation in those cases. I have more than enough good work to keep me busy without the need to destroy my reputation by trying to pass off a Sobriety pretender as the real thing.

Continue reading "Sobriety as a Requirement for a Michigan License Appeal" »

Part of my role as a Driver's License Restoration Attorney is to help my Clients frame the story of their recovery. In a previous article, I called this the "Magic Element" in a License Restoration case. In this article, I want to take a detour from the informational type article I usually write, and instead discuss what I love about being a License Restoration Lawyer, and why I'm so enthusiastic about this subject. In that regard, the reader looking to learn about the License Restoration process should read my entire section about this subject, beginning from the bottom of the section, and reading their way to the top. This article is not the place to start that inquiry.

Its easy to understand how someone could feel a rewarding sense of job satisfaction if they were, say, a rock star, or an artist of some kind. What about the person who becomes a foot doctor (Podiatrist), or a CPA? Sure, they probably make good money, but how much intrinsic satisfaction can the person regularly derive from their day-to-day work?

Within the parameters of the Legal profession, there isn't a lot of room for job satisfaction, either. Divorce Lawyers take their Clients at about the worst time in their lives. How much joy can someone get out of being part of a break-up? Estate Attorneys would be hard-pressed to get excited about the last Will they wrote up. Criminal Attorneys most often spend their time helping people clean up an extraordinarily unpleasant situation. I know about that, because its part of what I do.

In License Restorations, however, I am afforded the rare opportunity to help someone get back something they value. I am able to truly look at my work, and the efforts of my Client, and feel satisfaction about producing something good for someone who really deserves it. This is where my earlier reference to the Client's "story" comes into the picture. It's the development of that story, properly told, which results in the person finally being re-licensed. When a person's story is about recovery, its just natural to feel good about helping them get the rewards of all their efforts. Doing something good for someone who has worked for it, and deserves it, really is intrinsically rewarding.

This really all begins at the earliest stage of my relationship with a License Restoration Client. As a matter of protocol, anyone coming to meet with me for the first time has already been determined to be eligible, or soon enough be eligible, for a License Restoration. My first appointment with a new Client lasts about 3 hours, during which I essentially prepare them for the required Substance Abuse Evaluation. In doing so, we examine the transformation the person has undergone from the day of their last drink (often the day of their last DUI Arrest) to the present. My job is to help coax out of the person those sometimes forgotten lessons and stops on the road to Sobriety. Let me explain:

Continue reading "Winning Back a Michigan Driver's License - The Magic of Success" »

In previous blog articles about my License Restoration Practice, I have noted, albeit somewhat cavalierly, that very often, the best and easiest clients are those who have tried before and lost. Sometimes these individuals were represented by a Lawyer for whom License Restoration cases are not a substantial, bread-and-butter part of their Law Practice. Other times the person goes in on their own, unrepresented.

Whatever the situation, I get the call to come in for the 2nd round.

Fortunately, given the fact that I have had a 100% success rate so far in 2010, and have maintained a win rate of well over 90% for as long as I can remember, none of these "2nd timers" are former Clients of mine. What I do observe is that they come to my office with a fundamental understanding that there are a lot of small details to the License Restoration process, and that failing to take care of any one can be, and often is (as their prior experience indicates), fatal to a case.

I have noticed that beyond being eager to listen, and learn, about the process and all of the many nuances involved, pretty much all of my Clients want to take notes. This is even more so the case for those who are coming to have me represent them for their second Appeal. In fact, it has long been standard procedure for me to hand my Client a pad of paper and a pen so that they can jot down things as we proceed.

Now, given that the first meeting in my office, which is primarily dedicated to preparing for the required Substance Abuse Evaluation, lasts from 2 and a ½ to 3 hours, there is certainly a lot of ground to cover. Once in a while, if I notice the Client listening, but not writing, I'll slide the notepad over to them and say something you like "you may want to write some of this down."

Continue reading "Michigan Driver's License Restoration - Notes of Success" »

In some of my previous articles about Driver's License Restoration, I have gone over as many of the legal elements as possible. In others, I have explained how I prepare and present the facts of anyone's Appeal within the limits and requirements of those legal elements. One thing I have not gone over, however, is what I might call the "magic" element of helping my Client define and relate his or her "story" at the DAAD Hearing.

For all the particular steps in preparing a License Appeal, none of it matters if all of it doesn't sort of come together and present a picture, or a "story," of the person's recovery. And make no mistake about it, the events leading up to a person first making the decision, followed by the commitment, to not drink again, is a "story" in every sense of the word.

Some people have a good idea of their own" story," while others know it, but need a lot more help in bringing it out. Think of the best date in your life. You know it, you remember it, and when you think about it, you can almost kind of feel it again. That's a story. Now think about telling it out loud. It probably needs some work to be as remotely interesting to anyone else as it is to you.

I think that in order to do that, a detached, 'third person" is needed. I doubt that, despite my own experience, I could do as good job with my own life "story" as I could with someone expert help.

Beyond just getting someone's "story" in shape, that "story" has to fit within the framework of the issues relevant to a DAAD License Appeal. While some aspects of a person's "story" may be interesting, or even moving, if those things don't help prove the necessary elements of a License Appeal, they're only wasting time.

Perhaps the reason I've never taken this subject up is that, for all the articles I can crank out, it is simply impossible to describe this process in any detail. While I don't cook, I do know that those who do, and who do it particularly well, have a sort of "magic" touch. A person like me might follow a recipe to the tee, and the results would be mediocre, at best, but a real cook just "knows" how to combine the ingredients, and will have his or her own special way off adding a little more of this, or a little less of that, or a little something not in the book, to produce something truly special.

Getting a person's "story" ready for a License Appeal is similar. Of course, each person is a different "recipe." From my point of view, helping flesh out their "story" involves listening to their answers to my questions, not just for the specifics of what they have to say, but how they say it, and what other details they either give out or hold back. I suppose, without sounding immodest, that it involves a certain talent, as does cooking. I know I can't boil water, but I have won every License Appeal I've filed so far in 2010 and have a better than 90% success rate overall. That's no accident.