Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
My Practice as a Driver’s License Restoration Lawyer brings in many calls from people who want to get back on the road. In the last 2 years or so, I have won 168 out of the 170 License Appeals I have filed, giving me a win rate of 98.4%. I guarantee that I will win any Appeal I accept the first time, or the next is free.
One question that has come up quite a bit lately, from a number of callers, is whether or not I will accept their case. They want to know if I think they meet the “standards” I have set to take an Appeal. This is interesting, and a bit ironic, because, as it turns out, almost none of the people who ask this question have anything to worry about.
Recently, I have gone to some lengths to point out, in my various blog articles about Driver’s License Restoration, that I am only interested in representing people who are really and truly Sober.
I have likewise made clear that anyone who tells me that they can or will say whatever I want them to, but still believes they can have a glass of wine with dinner, or a beer every once in awhile, no matter what anyone says, can forget about having me handle their case. I’m not interested. I want to win Licenses back for people who have really made the commitment to not drink again.
What’s ironic is that those who have made that commitment seem to be those who tend to ready many, if not all of my License Restoration articles. As a result, they know I have that “Sobriety” threshold for accepting new cases. These people, as it turns out, are almost always the ones who have made that commitment to ongoing sobriety. It seems that those who have the most concern about whether I’ll take their case or not have the least to be concerned about.
Other people perhaps scan the titles of my more than 70 License Restoration articles, read a little bit here and there, and conclude, from the sheer number of my writings on this topic, that I know my stuff (and I do), and therefore, I am the guy they should hire. By not reading enough of what I have written, however, they have missed something important.
My success in this field is so high precisely because I’m not willing to just accept a Fee from someone who is ready to pay, but isn’t yet truly Sober. I have built a rock-solid reputation, and I am never going to compromise or sell my integrity just to get paid. The Hearing Officers before whom I appear regularly at the Livonia DAAD Office know I don’t just trot anyone in who wants a License back and is willing to pay some Lawyer to help. It’s a hell of a lot easier to prove Sobriety when someone is genuinely Sober. I don’t even know if it’s possible to “sneak one past” the DAAD, and I’m certainly never going to try.
One could at first argue that being this “honest” costs me money. In the short run of any given week, or month, that might be true. But in the long run, I could NEVER boast my win rate, nor offer my guarantee, if I lessened my standards. I suppose then, that in the long run, this has made my License Restoration practice more profitable. At least I like to think that’s the case.
Anyone who can begin to calculate the amount of time I have put into these highly detailed articles, and the time I have spent honing my skills by handling and winning as many cases as I have, must surely conclude that I am passionate about this stuff. And I am.
I love this stuff. Even if that sounds weird, think about it; would you want to go to a Dentist who didn’t love his or her work? Handling License Appeals for those who have made the dramatic turnaround in their lives necessary to win one of these cases allows me to help someone on the upswing of their lives put the final piece of the puzzle into place for the life they have rebuilt. I can actually do something materially good for someone.
I like my DUI practice, as well, but do you really think that there is any kind of comparable intrinsic reward when I keep a 2nd time DUI Offender out of Jail? Sure, they say thanks, and I appreciate their gratitude and a job well done, but nothing compares to helping someone who has really worked to make their life better. Kind of like that commercial goes:
Substance Abuse Evaluation – $200 License Appeal Legal Fee – $3000 Winning the Case – Priceless!
Those that call me, but who are not yet really “sober,” at least in the sense necessary to win a License Appeal, will find that I don’t just send them away empty-handed. I’ll make sure they know why they’re not yet ready, and what they need to think about and do to get there. The same thing is true for those that call and may be sober enough, but aren’t yet eligible, for one reason or another, to file yet. I’ll make sure that when they are ready, or eligible, they’ll remember who took the time to explain things to them so that they’ll call me back.
Nothing good comes easy. Winning back your License takes lots of work, both before you ever hire a Lawyer, as well as afterward. So does building a reputation as an honest Lawyer, and a person of integrity, who backs up his words with a guarantee. As an old boss of mine once said, building and maintaining a good reputation takes hard work every day, while destroying it requires only 1 stupid decision.
Chances are, if you’ve read this far, and you’re wondering whether I’d take your case or not, you’ve probably got nothing to worry about. Not that we won’t make sure, anyway. On the other hand, it’s rather likely that those people whose case I wouldn’t yet take because of concerns about their Sobriety wouldn’t have read this far, anyway.