Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
Within the body of the Driver’s License Restoration section of this blog, I have tried to examine the License Appeal process from every possible angle. This article will present a different perspective, as it won’t focus so much on the process, or an aspect of the process, but rather something that underlies the whole process; the “voice” of the Lawyer. In a few recent additions to the DUI section and the Criminal cases section of my website, I have focused on the importance of the “voice” of the Lawyer and how, really, it all comes down to this.
In a License Appeal, the Lawyer’s “voice” is a bit more understated, but no less important. In a Criminal case, the Lawyer’s first job is to help shape his or her Client’s side of the story, or at least their explanation for it. In a License Restoration Appeal, that “voice” helps shape the case as a whole. In an earlier article, I noted how the story of a person’s Recovery is, in fact, a “story,” and that a big part of my job is to help the Client put the words to it.
Imagine, for a moment, if you were sitting out on a suburban backyard patio, and suddenly, you looked up and rather surprisingly saw a deer standing about 20 feet away, just looking back at you. Now, think about how you would tell this story to different groups of people in your life:
To your small children, you’d talk about the deer like you might describe a “bunny rabbit.”
To the women in your life, you’d describe the graceful beauty of the creature, with its big eyes.
To the guys you know who are big hunters, depending on your own disposition, you might not say a word, you might ask how they could shoot such a beautiful animal, or you might talk about the venison dish that “got away.”
The point is that, depending on the audience, the “voice” of the story, if not the storyteller, changes. Knowing how to tell a story is every bit as important as the story itself, if not more so.
In a License Appeal, it falls to the Lawyer to help put the right voice to the story, and then, once the identity of the particular Hearing Officer who will ultimately decide the case becomes known, to fine-tune it accordingly.
I think I have the right “voice” to win a License Appeal, and, given my overwhelming success, this allows me to offer a win Guarantee. Nevertheless, I know that the voice I use in a License Appeal is neither the only one possible, nor the only one that can win. Still, my voice is strong enough to offer my first-time win Guarantee, and I don’t hear any more of those amongst the chorus of Lawyers…
Some Lawyers, particularly those without extensive or well-established backgrounds in alcohol (and substance) abuse, diagnosis and treatment will shift the focus of a License Appeal from those issues of Recovery and Sobriety to more technical, Legal issues. And to be clear, in any License Appeal, there must be both adequate proof of a person’s Sobriety and Recovery (remember, the main issue in any License Appeal is almost always that the person is a safe bet to NEVER drink again) and a fundamental understanding of the Laws and Rules that control and govern these cases.
Yet no matter who handles any particular case, it will have a “voice.” This holds true even when someone with little or no clue bumbles in without a Lawyer and tries their own hand at getting back on the road. In such a case, that “voice” is likely to be anything but clear and well-directed, but it will still be a “voice,” of some sort.
In my Practice, the voice I use focuses on the key aspects of Recovery and Sobriety. I search these things out in potential Clients so that, as we begin to lay the groundwork for our Appeal, we’re building on something already there, rather than trying to make something that’s not. As the old saying goes, you can dress a pig up in the finest silk in the world, but it’s still a pig.
Thus, in a way, I suppose the voice I have in License Appeals “calls” to potential Clients who identify with the way it resonates in the areas of Recovery and Sobriety. They find me, and I find them. I help them retrace their steps they took in going from drinker to non-drinker. And as we relive that transformation, a story emerges. And as we examine that story, we figure out how to put it into words.
The words I use, and precisely how I choose to arrange them defines my “voice.”
Yet for all of that, someone stumbling upon this article may well wonder what my “voice” sounds like. That’s answered easily enough. Beyond this article, I have well over 110 other License Restoration articles. I write as I speak and as I think. To read my work is to know my thinking, and my phraseology. Read those articles relevant to your License situation. If nothing else, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the License Appeal process that can be obtained nowhere else.
And of course, if you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line, or call my Office anytime M-F, between 8:30 and 5, at 586-228-6523.