Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
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.