Number one, do not report the charges, if you have only been arrested, you are not required to report them to your board. But if it is a conviction, it requires it, unless you are in some type of an area where you have received a professional license that does require this. Probably the one that is the strictest are the pilots. That is where if you do get convicted of a DUI, you are not flying anymore. Pilots are, from my experience, more of a warning DAWN with less exceptions as opposed to others. Obviously, there are exceptions everywhere and a great lawyer who is able to do everything and win the case will potentially be able to save your pilot’s license. You are still dealing with a civil agency and the burdens of proof is different, but in order of things find the best DUI lawyer you can.
Secure that lawyer and get a recommendation or recommendations for a civil attorney to deal with the medical or whatever professional license you have that is at risk. Listen to the instructions. It also helps that the DUI lawyer has some type of a past working relation with whoever the administrative attorney is going to be because you know they communicate and they probably have a fairly open channel of communication. They probably talk fairly often and as opposed to a lawyer who does not know the other lawyer that can make it a little more awkward or just tougher for them to communicate. In regards to once you do have that administrative lawyer hired to deal with the professional licensing board, what you need to understand there is a different burden of proof with the professional licensing board avenue.
It is an administrative hearing situation and the rules of the evidence are different and without going into details, this is why it is so important to not try and take care of this yourself or have someone who just does mainly criminal law and has not done many of these hearings administratively with these review boards to be representing you. You need to have that real professional administrative hearing attorney who deals with these review boards, not just the DMV. I deal with DMV on a lot of my cases, sometimes we have hearings sometimes we do not, but the rules of the evidence are different than in the court.
In dealing with the DUI and the DMV, I am very comfortable. I am very good at that. However, I would not want to be the attorney unless I started doing a lot of these cases who was representing you with a nursing board because I do not have that experience right now. If I had a situation where a client insisted on me doing this and if I chose to do it, I would not go by myself. I would have an attorney who is extremely experienced, one of the ones I know, and have dealt with very closely on cases where my clients have the licenses, the professional licenses at risk. I would have that administrative attorney doing the case with me and I would want them there for any critical hearing.
I would want their advice on every step of the way while I was going through this case and I would tell the client over and over that I should not be the lead on the case that the other attorney should because of their experience. It is vice-versa, those other attorneys who are going to be doing the DUI case, they will be telling the client the same thing, have the DUI lawyer do this. It is complex and you really should not represent yourself. It is just too much at stake. How many years are you going to work for, how hard did you work to get to this point and now you have a drunken driving case and potentially drunk driving conviction and you have a professional license? Do not mess with it. Do the right thing; find a way to hire the right lawyers who is going to get you the best results.
For more information on Mitigating Factors For Professional Licenses, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (415) 523-7878 today.
