Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
It’s kind of funny to be called “The License Guy” by your fellow Lawyers, but because such a large part of my Practice involves Driver’s License Restoration cases, I take it as a compliment. Occasionally, I am pulled aside in Court by some Lawyer (even on the Prosecutor’s side) and asked a question about License Restoration. Frequently, the question involves a complicated issue, and within a minute or two, the person to whom I’m speaking says something like “give me your card, I’ll have them call you.”
One of the things I have learned from these “do you have a minute?” questions is that there is a prevailing belief that has almost reached mythical status about the impossibility of winning back a Driver’s License once the person has had it Revoked because of multiple DUI’s. Most people are surprised to learn that winning back a License is very possible. A few, on the other hand, think all a person has to do is file for an Appeal, show up, and say they haven’t been drinking, and the License will be Restored. Neither of these are true at all. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle.
Even the Secretary of State knows that lots of people think that once the License has been Revoked, it’s gone forever. In the Secretary of States’ Official Publication, the DLAD Practice Manual (published before the DLAD, then known as the Driver Appeal and Assessment Division, changed it’s name to the DAAD, or Driver Assessment and Appeal Division) the Secretary of State even says, about itself, that:
The Department is aware that there is a perception that the agency “never returns a license” in habitual violator appeals.
This underscores the fact that there is a widespread belief that these cases are impossible to win, and yet nothing can be farther from the truth. In the previous Blog entry, I noted that of the 25 or so Appeals I had filed, and for which I had conducted Hearings at the time of the article (the first quarter of the year 2010), I HAD WON EVERY ONE!
Now, there’s no magic wand that I have that allows me to do that. Sure, I’m darn good at this, but part of that being good is deciding which potential Clients are ready to file an Appeal, and who needs some more work and must wait.
The underlying criteria for winning an Appeal is being sober. And being sober, at least in the sense of clean and sober and in Recovery, means being committed to remaining sober for life. While that’s far from all it takes to win a License Appeal, it is a necessary starting point. A person must have committed to sobriety in order to face the Hearing Officer. No matter how good a salesman a person might be, the DAAD is going to sound them out about their Recovery, and you cannot fake that stuff in a License Appeal.
Now, some of the people I deal with are clean and sober, but do not go to AA or have any working plan in place other than their commitment to not drink. That’s okay. I work with these people to help them make that turnaround in their life into their Recovery story. This is why my first meeting with a new Client takes about 3 hours.
No one needs to be told how difficult life is without a Driver’s License. And for those that take the chance and drive anyway, they know they’re playing with fire. I recently published an article about how a person who gets caught driving after their License has been Revoked can be sent back to square one, as far as getting their License back is concerned.
The truth is that winning one of these cases takes a lot, and I mean a ton of work. But for those who have turned the corner of sobriety and have waited for their eligibility date to approach, I can turn that dream of getting back on the road, legally, into a reality.
If you’re without a License, and even if you have along way to go before your eligibility date comes near, take the time to read the volumes of information about License Restorations I have put up on my Website, and read the numerous, informative articles I have published about the process on this Blog, in the Driver’s License Restoration category.
When you’re ready to get going, then by all means, check around. See what other Lawyers are out there, and what they have written (or have to say) about the License Restoration process. I’m sure that as you do your homework, you’ll certainly want to check with me, as well.
If I analyze your situation and tell you you’re ready, then we can begin the process of winning back your License.
If you’re not ready, I’ll be honest, and tell you. You don’t win as many Appeals as I do by filing just any old case.
Winning back a Driver’s License can be done, but it’s best to have expert help, and I can provide that. After all, you don’t get called “The License Guy” for nothing!