Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
If you have lost your License because of multiple DUI convictions, you know how tough it is without one. At the point where you’re looking for a Lawyer to help you win it back, you know that the most important thing is not just winning your Michigan License Appeal. It’s about winning it the first time (or at least the next time) around. You’ve waited long enough. Getting stuck for another year without the ability to drive and having to bum rides from everyone is not a plan. Getting back on the road is…
From my perspective, this is a spin on the old saying that “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” Yet it’s also spot-on. If you’ve tried to win your License back before, and filed a Michigan Driver’s License Restoration or Clearance case, only to wind up having lost, you’re probably not interested in the cold comfort of reassurances like “eventually,” or “sooner or later” when it comes to finally winning your License back. Nor should you be. If and when you become eligible to file, or file again, you need and want to win, not lose.
I bring a bit of a unique twist to this. If you’ve clicked around my site or this blog, you’ve likely seen that I Guarantee that I will win your case the first time around. I can do that by screening out people who cannot win. Sure, there are “a million little rules” involved in handling a Michigan License Reinstatement case, but to me, it’s not any of those that pose a problem. I know that stuff like the back of my hand. The most important factor that I look for in a person is their commitment to not drinking again. If you have that, I can get your License back.
You don’t need to be in AA to win your License back; more than half the people whose cases I win are NOT active in AA when I file their case. If you are in AA, then I can use that to your advantage. If not, don’t worry about it. My Guarantee is ironclad, and applies to any case I handle. If I’m your Lawyer, you’re getting your License back.
Lots of people get frustrated with the Secretary of State after trying a License Appeal on their own, and then losing. Many of these same people are determined, and try again, and even again after that. This week, I had a guy contact me who had just tried for the fourth time on his own and lost. This is where those “million little rules” come in. Many of these people are genuinely Sober. It’s one thing to lose a License Appeal case while the state is asking all kinds of questions that take it for granted that you’re not drinking, even though you still are. It’s another to really be Sober and lose anyway. It’s like they think you’re a liar.
I think it’s even worse if you spent money and hired a Lawyer, and then lost anyway. That’s money wasted, and another year without a License in your wallet. That’s why I offer a Guarantee. Now you feel worse; the state doesn’t seem to believe you, and some Lawyer took your money and lost your case. When you get the Denial, the Hearing Officer explains why your case was rejected, and you’re left wondering why your Lawyer missed something. It certainly can scare a person about doing business with any more Lawyers. Again, that’s why I have a Guarantee.
Almost every day, and often, more than once a day, somebody calls my Office looking for a Lawyer to handle their License Appeal. On the face of it, that sounds great. Once we start asking a few questions, however, we find that the majority of those callers are not quite Sober. You wouldn’t believe the things people will tell us over the phone. They say things like “Yeah, I know how this all works. The state needs me to say I’m an alcoholic, even though I’m really not. I’ve done this before, and I need my License, so I’ll tell them what they want to hear. But no one is going to tell me I can’t have a beer once in a while, or a glass of wine with dinner.”
These callers miss the fact that in just about every one of the more than 130 Michigan License Restoration articles I have published to date, and all over the Driver’s License Restoration section of my website, I call Sobriety a “first requirement” to file a License Appeal. If you can figure out anything about me as a Driver’s License Restoration Lawyer, it’s that I don’t take cases for people who are still drinking. And while I find great satisfaction in winning about 98% of the cases I take the first time around, it’s not a lot of fun to do the math and think about all the money I DON’T make by not accepting a case for anyone who still drinks.
That I talk this way does separate me from the herd. And it definitely costs me a lot of money. I’d more than double my income if I just took every License Appeal that came my way. But to produce a first-time win in virtually every case I take, and to be able to back that up with a Guarantee, I have to do things differently. I play by the rules, and do things by the book; I’m honest, and I make less money for that…
But I bring one thing to the table that’s priceless: If you’re not drinking, I will get a valid Driver’s License back into your wallet the first time we try, Guaranteed. In the final analysis, winning really isn’t everything; winning the first time is.