Professional Licenses Issues

If you have a professional or occupational license in California, your license can be affected if you are convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony. Don’t get lulled into believing that pleading guilty will not result in a conviction. It does. In fact you are guaranteed to be convicted if you plead guilty. Once you have been found guilty, the proper licensing authority will be informed through the system. In other cases, you may be required to notify the licensing authority of your conviction.

Generally the licensing authority has its own investigative abilities and it can, and often does, investigate matters more thoroughly than the court. Just by example, this can happen in the case of a licensed taxi driver who is charged with a DUI but pleads guilty to the lesser offense of reckless driving or even a wet reckless. This driver may think that the licensing authority would not look as harshly on the reckless plea as on a conviction for drunk driving. However, when the licensing authority conducts its own investigation and they find out that the driver was far above the legal limit, they may conclude that the offense had with it a degree of moral turpitude that would affect the person’s ability to conduct himself or herself in accordance with the requirements of the business license. Therefore, it might be wiser to fight a conviction when any other outcome may result in the loss of an ability to continue one’s business and have a livelihood.

Retaining a professional license requires the expertise of a criminal defense attorney with years of experience. A qualified lawyer can help you make the best possible decisions for your future.

After an arrest, the investigation that will be launched will involve a professional investigator and the state attorney general’s office where a prosecutor will read your file to determine if any action against your license should be taken.

At a hearing of the license authority, a person applying for a license who has been convicted of a crime will have the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that he or she deserves the license. The licensing authority only needs to provide to the court papers that prove a conviction in order to assert that you may not be entitled to a particular license.

Certain professionals could lose business insurance if they are convicted of crimes. Physicians and dentists are particularly susceptible in this area. They can be dropped from service provider lists and they may fired from the hospitals wherein they work. It just might be worth the fight, so get in touch with a skilled defense attorney as soon as possible if your license is at risk.

On the other hand, if you already have a license but you are called in for a disciplinary hearing, you carry the burden of proving that there were mitigating circumstances that would diminish the seriousness of the crime. Mitigating circumstances are good reasons or excuses for your actions. It takes a lawyer long practiced in criminal defense law to come up the goods necessary to have a license authority show some lenience.

If you are person with a professional license or if you intend on getting a professional license, and you have been charged with a crime, do not hesitate in seeking a free case evaluation from The Kavinoky Law Firm.