Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
This article will address the “costs” of a Michigan License Restoration or Clearance Appeal from 2 different points of view: Yours and mine. Not a day goes by without my Office being called by someone interested in hiring me for a License Appeal and asking how much I charge. My Fee is $3600 for a License Restoration, beginning with $1200 down, and I Guarantee to win any case I file. It used to frustrate me to no end when this question was asked because I am the ONLY Lawyer I know of who lists his prices all over his website AND offers a Guaranteed win.
I often wondered how anyone could miss this. I have my “Fees” conspicuously linked all over the place. Then I came to understand that, precisely because I am the ONLY Lawyer who discloses his Fees, no one expects to see them on a website, or discussed in an article. For my part, I am turned off by anyone offering a product or service that is afraid to list the cost up front. I could list a million reasons why I feel that way, but the point is, I don’t waste my time with anyone who can’t provide me with at least some general cost or price information right out of the gate.
Because I win about 98% of my License Restoration cases the first time around, and back that up with a Guarantee, I don’t have to, nor do I “compete” with anyone for business. While my whole approach to License Appeals is different, here are 3 ways where I really stand apart from the pack:
- I require you to have quit drinking before I’ll take your case.
- I strategically control every bit of the evidence that’s submitted in your case
- Once I take your case, I Guarantee I’ll win it.
I’m not out here selling some kind of “attempt” or “best efforts” to get a License back. Instead, I offer a very unique service that comes with a Guarantee. No one else does that. If you hire me, you’ll only pay me one time, and you’ll win your License back, Guaranteed. Accordingly, I have no interest in charging less, more, or “price matching” with anyone, or otherwise adjusting my Fee. I charge what I charge, and that’s that.
We’ll meet for 3 hours in my Office before you ever take the first step in your case, and I will guide you by the hand EVERY step of the way. It takes a lot of time and effort to win a License back. Anyone who has tried before already knows this. Nothing good comes easy, and, as with all things, success is nailed in the preparation. I know exactly what it takes to win your License back, and I will do just that.
From my side, it takes $3600 to be able to slip a valid Driver’s License back into your wallet. I don’t dismiss that as cheap, but I think the real cost of a Michigan License Restoration is not so much the financial expenditure to get back on the road as it is the price of NOT winning, and having to bum rides for yet another year.
Consequently, I liken the cost of a License Appeal to an investment in your future. Every day, I hear from people who need their License back in order to get a job, or keep a job, or accept a promotion. Most everyone with whom I speak needs to get their License Restored to move forward, and get ahead. Everyone feels “held back” by the inability to drive. Sure, some people drive anyway, but they know that there will be Hell to be paid if ever they get pulled over.
The “cost” isn’t much different, however, if you file a License Appeal and lose your case. Beyond the financial ramifications of losing, a person gets pushed to the sidelines for another year before they can file for another License Appeal. I get calls almost everyday from someone who has just opened the mail to find out that their “do-it-yourself” License Appeal didn’t work, or that the Lawyer they hired to help them didn’t do so well. Of course, they hop on the computer, find me, and, without reading much of what I have published, they call my Office. I certainly pay a price for the amount of information I have put out; some people just see the sheer quantity of it and conclude that I’m “the guy” to call.
If they took the time to read a little, they’d learn that I never appeal a loss to Court, principally because I almost never lose in the first place. About the last thing I have any time to do is rescue a case someone else has screwed up. I’m rather up front about this, as well, because I simply do not have time to drop 10 minutes here, or 15 minutes there, to listen to a story that always ends like this: “I lost my Appeal and I really need my License back.” There is no way for me to pull off some “Lazarus” miracle and resurrect what’s already dead. Thus, I have to tell an already frustrated caller that they’ll have to wait until their year is up. To be blunt about it, if the caller had hired me in the first place (assuming, of course, that he or she is Sober), then they wouldn’t have lost. While there are “a million little rules” governing License Appeals, the fact of the matter is that no one loses their case because they do everything right.
But I do, and that’s why I Guarantee a win.
Once a case has been filed, then “the die has been cast,” as the saying goes. Whatever evidence is submitted is locked in, at that point. As I have observed in many other articles, I have a very specific procedure for editing and revising the Letters of Support, and for having the Substance Abuse Evaluation (SAE) completed. It begins with that first 3-hour meeting in my Office, which is done in to prepare my Client to undergo the SAE. This includes referring my Clients to a particular Clinic, or, as the situation requires, another specific Evaluator, because almost every “outside” Evaluation I have ever seen has been done wrong.
For the person on the other end of the phone, this means accepting their loss means dealing with continuing problems finding a job, or with that new job, or that promotion, or keeping the job they have. A setback for at least another year is surely bad news to all the people who make up their “transportation network.” Such bad news always comes hard. In many cases, it seems like insult is being added to injury, because the person who tried and lost really is Sober. Unfortunately, while Sobriety is absolutely a first and necessary requirement to win a Michigan License Appeal, it is far from enough.
I have long pointed out that, in order to play tennis, a person needs a tennis racket. However, showing up to a tennis court, racket in hand, isn’t enough. You need to know the rules, and the strategy, and all the things that go into being a good tennis player. If you don’t understand that the ball has to fall inside the lines, then you’ll never even have a chance to win the game. This is where those “million little rules” become so important.
I think that any kind of “final analysis” requires a person to sit down and calculate all the costs, including the emotional, financial and personal, involved in losing a License Appeal, and then compare them to the fixed cost ($3600) of a Guaranteed win. For my part, I make the math easy. Because I’m up front about how I do things, there’s no need to call me (although many assuredly will) and ask, “How much do you charge?” As a bonus, however, there’s also no need to bother asking about, or wondering, “What happens if we lose?” We won’t. About the only question any of my Clients need to ask about “what happens after” is how soon they will receive their new License. In terms of cost, that’s priceless.