I had the best client ever hire me about a year ago. He was living down in Georgia for the last few years, and he was absolutely convinced that I had to be his attorney before the DLAD / DAAD to get his license back.
This client had been sober for many years, but he lacked proof. He had previously attempted to get his license back, but his out-of-state application had been denied. I provided him with a game plan, and he followed it to the letter. I can't speak highly enough about my client's efforts. He worked diligently throughout this process, and he was extremely patient with me the entire time.
I always say that license restoration is 90% client effort and 10% attorney effort, but this case took a lot of effort by both of us.
I struggled to get copies of his paperwork from the Michigan Secretary of State. I repeatedly ordered copies of his old paperwork, because this is critical to a successful DLAD driver's license restoration action. Unfortunately, every time I ordered the information, the Michigan Secretary of State provided the wrong information. I ended up working closely with a single person at the Michigan Secretary of State and received most of the documents that I needed to proceed. Finally, after a long wait and after the client had successfully completed his tasks, we filed the application.
I explained to the client that he should expect to a) lose, being required to travel to Michigan for a full hearing hoping to win at a face-to-face interview, or b) win limited privileges with a breath interlock device installed in his vehicle, revisiting the issue in a year for full privileges.
We waited, and we waited, and waited some more. I called the Secretary of State on numerous occasions, worried that the application had been lost. Finally, it was determined that I had filed the application with a different number than the one being tracked by the Michigan Secretary of State. (This is bizarre, and I still do not have a good explanation on this point from the government.) The final message from the Michigan Secretary of State was that everything was still on track, so I encouraged my client to continue to be patient.
Although several weeks had passed since I anticipated a response, out of the blue on one morning, I received the order from the Secretary of State. FULL PRIVILEGES RESTORED!!!
Since my client owns a butcher shop, I was provided one the best presents ever: See the photo! On my next trip down to Georgia, I will not miss visiting my client's shop under any circumstance.