How Substance Abuse Awareness Can Help In Your Criminal, DUI and Driver’s License Restoration Case

Substance Use In Criminal, DUI and License Restoration Cases

I recall when one of our legal assistants told me of a conversation she had with a driver’s license restoration caller who had gotten into trouble because of a relapse after having been clean and sober for a number of years.

She was patient with him, exploring the circumstances that gave rise to his “slip.” When all was said and done, he thanked her for her time and insight, saying that he felt “understood” as he set out to renew his commitment to remaining sober for good.

All day, every day, my team and I deal with issues related to drinking and drugs in criminal, DUI and driver’s license restoration cases. These issues are so central to our  firm’s practice areas that a number of years ago, I returned to the University campus (no online classes for me) and completed a post-graduate program of addiction studies.

Our firm concentrates in handling DUI cases and driver’s license restoration appeals. Therefore, issues such as the development, diagnosis, treatment of and recovery from alcohol and/or drug use or other addictive disorders is at the core of almost everything we do.

In this article, we’ll look at why understanding substance abuse issues in the context of DUI (the actual term in Michigan is Operating While Intoxicated, or “OWI” for short) driver’s license restoration and criminal cases is so important – and helpful.

To be clear, as used here, “substance” and “substance abuse” refers to the use of alcohol AND/OR drugs, whether legal (and even prescribed) as well as those, like cocaine and heroin, that are simply illegal.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction Statistics in Michigan

Although one can get lost in the numbers, the simplified version of the actual statistics for Michigan paints a frightening picture:

• 9,331 alcohol-involved crashes in 2022
• 2,452 drug-involved crashes in 2022
• 571 fatalities due to drug- or alcohol-involved crashes

According to the CDC, an estimated 40.3 million Americans had a substance abuse disorder within the last year.

These facts regarding substance use and abuse directly influence the way courts perceive anyone facing a DUI charge or any kind of criminal charge involving alcohol or drugs.

What Drug and Alcohol Problems Looks Like

Here are 5 key “overview” points that will help in our discussion of substance abuse problems:

1. A substance abuse problem may or may NOT be an addiction.
2. A person does not have to be an “alcoholic” to have a drinking problem.
3. Someone who rarely drinks can still have a troubled relationship to alcohol.
4. Denial (“I can stop anytime I want”) is common in substance abuse problems.
5. The simplest test is this – anything that causes a problem IS a problem.

Substance abuse problems, like the people who have them, come in all shapes, sizes, colors and varieties.

For example, one person may have a drink or two every night and never have a problem. By contrast, someone else may have a problem even though he or she only drinks once every several years.

Unfortunately, substance abuse problems, at least early on, almost “tell” the person that everything is alright. It is not uncommon for those around someone to observe that his or her substance use is creating trouble, while the person will insist there’s nothing wrong.

This is known as “denial.”

Substance abuse is not the same thing as addiction. While all addiction involves substance abuse, but not all substance abuse includes addiction.

If problematic use is caught early enough, a person may be able to change his or her behavior to avoid things getting worse. This is because, most often, the problems caused by substance abuse start out small. Left unchecked, though, they tend to pile up and get worse over time.

How This Applies In DUI And Driver’s License Restoration Cases

The clinical aspects of this can get deep. However, Michigan’s DUI laws cut through this rather cleanly:

• Any person who racks up 2 DUIs within 7 years or 3 DUIs within 10 years is legally categorized as a “habitual alcohol offender.”
• A consequence of that is that he or she is legally PRESUMED to have an alcohol problem. The law doesn’t try to pin any kind of “alcoholic” label on the person, but rather just concludes that he or she has some kind of problem.
• The underlying idea is that by virtue of racking up multiple DUIs, the person is a demonstrated risk when it comes to alcohol and driving.
• Upon conviction for that 2nd or 3rd DUI, his or her driver’s license will be revoked for life, and a person must wait until he or she is legally eligible to file a license restoration appeal.
• To win that appeal, the person must show that he or she has been clean and sober for a “legally sufficient” period of time and has the tools to remain sober for life.
• The state will only take the safest bet possible, and that’s on people who do not drink, because they are exactly ZERO risk to ever drive drunk again.

In the context of DUI cases, it is not uncommon for a person to deflect any inquiry into his or her drinking by suggesting that they’ve simply been unlucky. While we could examine that a million different ways, the old saying quoted above provides that best advice – anything that causes a problem IS a problem.

The common denominator for anyone racking multiple DUIs is, of course, drinking.

The court, for its part, is going to look very closely at a DUI driver’s drinking behavior and will – without exception – order that the person completely refrain from the use of alcohol (and ALL other recreational drugs) while his or her case is pending.

How Substance Abuse Problems Impact Your Case

As Michigan criminal, DUI and driver’s license restoration lawyers, my team and I must explain to our clients both the legal and practical realities about how things work in the court system.

For example, if you’re facing a 2nd offense DUI and want to tell the judge that you should be able to have a glass of wine with dinner while you’re on probation, you’ll just be digging a huge hole for yourself.

Our job is to help the client understand how the system works and how it “sees” things. We do this to prevent our client from running head-first into even more trouble.

To be sure, the court system is far from perfect. In fact, it’s rather flawed.

We have, for example, heard some within the courts voice their belief that relapse is not part of recovery, even though this is a generally accepted clinical reality when someone is trying to get sober.

In terms of the types of counseling, education or rehab to which the courts send people, that’s hit or miss, at best.

In most courts, AA is still the gold standard. In plenty of cases involving alcohol, the possibility of being court-ordered to attend meetings is very real.

The problem is that while AA is a great program, it’s not for everyone.

In fact, the simple truth is that it’s the wrong choice for most people. 

Being ordered to attend AA when it’s the wrong option for someone is a big “miss” that can dramatically affect his or her life.

As defense lawyers, we must help the judge consider the whole range of treatment options available (and there are plenty), with an eye toward selecting the one that’s most appropriate for any given client.

Being sent for the wrong kind of “help” is never beneficial and can sometimes be downright counterproductive.

How This Can Play Out In The Real World

Let’s look at a hypothetical DUI case as an example:

Assume that Lauren, a 26 year-old woman, gets a 2nd offense DUI. She winds up in front of a judge who orders her to go to 2 AA meetings per week for the first year of her probation.

Because she no longer has a driver’s license, she is stuck going to the 2 meetings nearest her home.

Both meetings are mostly attended by older men. To be sure, they’re nice, and harmless, but when Lauren walks into the room, these portly, middle-aged guys with flannel shirts and gray beards all turn around, their eyes wide, surprised to see a female.

With absolutely no ill intentions whatsoever, one of the men greets her by saying, “Hiya sweetie, come on in and have a seat right here.”

Of course, Lauren cringes, and right there, any potential therapeutic benefit she may have ever gotten from AA just went out the window. This is NOT any kind of group in which she’ll feel comfortable sharing the details of her life.

Even if her feelings of being creeped out are a bit exaggerated, as the old saying goes, “feelings are facts,” and whatever the judge was hoping she’d get out of attending AA is now a lost cause.

Should the court force Lauren to keep going there for the next 51 weeks?

What will likely happen if her lawyer explains her discomfort to the judge and asks that she be allowed to discontinue AA?

Without a solid clinical understanding of substance abuse treatment, and the ability to explain how and why these AA meetings are a lost cause for Laruen, the chance of that happening is slim to none.

A judge who hasn’t been educated otherwise, can just think, “Well, you got yourself into this mess, and instead of locking you up, I’m making you go to meetings. The way I see it, that still sure beats the hell out of jail, so I’m not going to lose any sleep over you not liking it; too bad.”

However, if the lawyer can suggest a suitable alternative, help the judge see the bigger picture at play, and do it in a way where the judge really “gets it,” then he or she should have no problem releasing Lauren from AA and allowing her to do something else, instead.

DUI

More specifically, having a broad understanding of substance abuse is critical to properly handling drunk driving matters. Here’s why:

Under Michigan law, before a person can be sentenced for a DUI, he or she must undergo a mandatory alcohol assessment (screening). This takes the form of a written “test” administered by a probation officer from the court’s probation department. This test seeks detailed information about a person’s alcohol use and drug use history, and current use behavior.

Every answer has a point value, and the total number is compared to a scoring key that (supposedly) determines 1 of 3 things about the person:

1. That he or she has an alcohol problem (and if so, how severe),
2. That he or she is at risk to develop an alcohol problem, or
3. That he or she does NOT have any kind of problem.

These results of this assessment process are used to make a written report (technically, a sentencing recommendation) to the judge advising what the person’s sentence should be in every driving under the influence case. This can include everything from a simple, 1-session alcohol highway safety class to a referral for long term counseling and/or treatment.

There is an inherent problem inherent within this process, and it is clinically known as the risk of “over-diagnosis.” This is part of what is sometimes described as the court system’s alcohol bias.

Essentially, this means that a person will be perceived as:

1. Having an alcohol problem that’s not there
2. Having some kind of alcohol problem that’s worse than it really is, or
3. Being at risk for an alcohol problem to develop.

As noted, the risk of overdiagnosis is a clinically acknowledged reality, and it’s largely based upon this repeatedly validated fact:

As a group, people who have racked up even one DUI are at greater risk to have an alcohol problem than those who have not.

This is just a risk factor, but it’s well-known and often seen in the court system.

The reality, though, is that most people facing a 1st offense DUI don’t have an alcohol problem.

Nevertheless, the alcohol bias and risk of over-diagnosis is there, and it WILL affect how every person going through a DUI is perceived.

How This Works In DUI Cases

Here is a simple way to explain this:

Imagine that you are told to conduct a study. You are instructed to survey 5000 people, at random, for a substance abuse assessment. You are further advised that it doesn’t matter how or where you collect your sample (100 from each of the 50 states, or half from the eastern part of the country, and the other half from the west, etc.), except that there is only ONE qualification:

Everyone you survey must either have or otherwise be mentally capable of obtaining a driver’s license. In other words, you must exclude those who are intellectually impaired.

• You are to call this lot “Group A.”

Next, you are to do the same thing all over again, with one ADDITIONAL qualification:

Everyone in this group must either have previously had or be currently facing a DWI (DUI) charge.

• You are to call this lot “Group B.”

No matter how you screen them, it will ALWAYS be the case that “Group B” tests out with a higher incidence of alcohol problems than “Group A.”

This reality, along with the day-to-day experience of any judge presiding over what can seem like an endless stream of DUI cases reinforces that “alcohol bias” within the court system.

It is precisely this kind of thing from which my team and I, in our roles as Michigan DUI attorneys, must protect our clients.

Criminal Cases

Very often, criminal cases arise because they involve drugs or alcohol. Think of things like open intoxicants in a motor vehicle and drug possession charges.

Often enough, people get in trouble because they’re under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. Here, think of people doing “stupid stuff” (like driving drunk) because they’re intoxicated or doing other things like winding up in a domestic violence situation.

Sometimes, a person may be having some kind of mental health issue that helps explain his or her behavior beyond just being intoxicated.

Here again, we come back to the simple yet profound notion that “anything that causes a problem IS a problem.”

Whatever else, nobody makes better decisions when under the influence. Inhibitions get lowered, and people sometimes do things they would normally not if they weren’t impaired.

To be sure, not every crime, drug crime, or crime committed while under the influence of drugs or alcohol means a person has a problem.

However, the court system will be laser focused on that aspect of things, and any criminal defense attorney who is not crystal clear about this is failing his or her client. Court-ordered drug counseling is always a risk in criminal and DUI cases, and should be pointedly avoided when there is NOT an underlying problem.

One of the best examples of this can be found in domestic violence (DV) cases. Not every DV case involves alcohol, but it is a fact that most of them do.

The presence and potential role of alcohol and/or drugs in any criminal case will always be a primary area of interest to the courts.

Therefore, it must be a key focus of the defense lawyer, as well.

If a person has a problem, then my team and I can get him or her into the right kind of help early on. This can reap HUGE benefits in the case.

On the flip side, if someone does NOT have any kind of alcohol or drug problem, then we’ll see to it that he or she gets a clinically reliable alcohol evaluation or substance use evaluation to prove that.

Driver’s License Restoration Cases

Driver’s license restoration and clearance appeals become necessary after a person has lost his or her driving privileges following multiple DUI convictions. Michigan law categorizes anyone who has 2 DUI convictions within 7 years or 3 within 10 years as a “habitual alcohol offender.”

The law further PRESUMES that any such person has some kind of alcohol and/or substance abuse problem.

We’ll skip any debate about the wisdom of how the law works in that regard because, as the saying goes, “it is what it is.” In other words, the starting point for a license appeal is that the person does, in fact, have an alcohol and/or substance abuse problem.

To win a license appeal, a person must ALWAYS prove these 2 things, among others:

1. That his or her legally presumed alcohol and/or substance abuse problem is “under control,” and
2. That his or her alcohol and/or substance abuse problem is “likely to remain under control.”

In simple terms, this means that one must show he or she has been COMPLETELY alcohol and drug-free (this includes recreational marijuana) for a “legally sufficient” period of time. Normally, a person will need AT LEAST 2 years of clean time, and often more, to have any chance of winning a license restoration or clearance appeal case.

In addition, anyone filing a license appeal is going to have to prove that he or she has both the ability and the commitment to remain completely alcohol and drug-free for life.

This requires filing an appeal that includes, among other things, a clinically sound substance use evaluation (often mistakenly called a “substance abuse evaluation”) and testimonial letters of support.

Here, an understanding of the development, diagnosis, treatment of, and recovery from alcohol and other substance abuse problems is very important to how and why our firm guarantees to win every license restoration and clearance appeal case we take.

In fact, it’s so important that years ago, I returned to the University classroom to complete a formal post-graduate program of addiction studies.

My team and I use this specialized knowledge every day in our criminal, DUI and driver’s license restoration practice.

Why Work With Jeffrey Randa and Associates

The most defining feature of our firm is that we’re honest. We will never just tell someone what they want to hear in order to collect a fee.

Instead, we feel obligated to tell them what they need to hear – the truth. Imagine someone facing a 2nd offense DUI calling us and saying they know it looks bad, but they don’t have a drinking problem.

While it’s not our place to play substance abuse counselor and argue with that person, we are morally compelled to explain how Michigan law works. We need to make clear that, as noted above, the law categorizes any such person as a “habitual alcohol offender,” and further PRESUMES that the person has some kind of drinking problem.

We do this because our ultimate goal is to produce the very best outcome possible for the client. And make no mistake, the “best outcome” in a criminal or DUI case is had by either getting the whole charge dismissed, or at least avoiding as many of the legal penalties and negative consequences as possible.

• The bottom line is that in criminal and DUI cases, success is best measured by what does NOT happen to you.
• In driver’s license restoration and clearance appeal cases, success is ONLY measured by winning. Either you win your license back, or not.

Remember, our firm GUARANTEES to win every license restoration and clearance appeal case we take.

You simply cannot do better than that.

Here’s what a few of our clients had to say about us:

“A few years ago I attempted to get my driving privileges reinstated and the interlock device removed from my car. I hired another attorney and we failed miserably. The Randa office shoots it to you straight and walks you through everything you need to do before they’ll even consider taking you on as a client and eventually requesting a hearing. They are in it to win and that’s exactly what they did for me. They had a mess to clean up and they did that and got my freedom back for me. Jack Mott and Ann were amazing to work with. I felt confident and prepared for my hearing. I highly recommend The Jeffrey Randa team for any license needs.” – Ceree M.

“They did everything right! The experience was professional and never once did I feel that I didn’t know what was going on.” – Dave M.

“I can’t recommend Randa & Associates enough for license restoration – I know people who have had their license revoked and tried fighting with other firms, and they lost their cases – Randa’s attorneys are experts. Jack Mott is a pro, and Ann and Beth in the office are extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and kind. I won my case after expecting the worst, and am so happy with the my experience with this firm!!!” – Michelle M.

“Can’t say enough about Jack and team. Unbelievably professional and caring. Love these people!!” – Mike D.

“I had a lot of issues with my drivers license and outstanding warrants…. I have to say Jeffrey Randa office made it all smooth going. They really have their act together making the process a lot easier to handle and I also found their pricing to be very reasonable considering how bad my case was.” – JJ.

“Just two words describe them “The Best”. They handled my case with ease. Gave me advice and the tools to get me the best case possible.” – Derek P.

Our Approach to Cases Involving Substance Use

In a 1st offense DUI case, for example, a key goal for my team and me is to prevent a person who does not have a drinking problem from getting caught up in the court system’s inherent “alcohol bias” and winding up being treated like he or she does.

We need to make sure he or she is NOT ordered into unnecessary substance abuse counseling, education, and/or treatment.

Often enough, someone facing a 2nd offense DUI will insist that he or she does NOT have any kind of drinking problem, despite how bad things may look.

It’s here that we must explain 3 important facts about Michigan’s DUI laws, as noted above:

1. If a person racks up 2 DUI’s within 7 years, or 3 within 10 years, he or she is legally categorized as a “habitual alcohol offender,”
2. He or she is legally presumed, by law, to have an alcohol (i.e., substance abuse) problem, and
3. Every such offender is required to complete at least some kind of counseling.

The client must be made to understand that no matter how much he or she does (or does not) drink, just by their record alone, there is obviously some kind of risky relationship to alcohol.

At this point in a criminal or DUI case, labels don’t really matter. The courts are less concerned about whether a person has any kind of addiction or dependence. Instead, it’s a simple matter of a person being a demonstrated risk to public safety.

Thus, in the context of criminal and DUI cases (it’s different for driver’s license restoration appeals), we’re dealing with the law and things like court orders for testing and treatment that will directly and significantly impact a person’s life

The court system does not have the resources to be very nuanced about a person’s relationship to alcohol or drugs. Instead, it operates from the perspective that if you’re facing a 2nd offense DUI, you absolutely have some kind of drinking problem, and “help” must be ordered.

The Lawyer’s Role

Plenty of lawyers would be content to collect their fee by merely agreeing with a possible 2nd offense DUI client who says that he or she doesn’t have any kind of issue with drinking.

After all, the old saying is that “the customer is always right.”

If a potential paying client with multiple prior DUIs calls and is looking for a lawyer who will echo that he or she doesn’t have a problem, that’s a difficult temptation for many to resist.

To be clear – It is a complete failure on the part of any lawyer who would just remain silent and not explain the bigger picture, like we’ve been doing here.

On the flip side, however, nobody should hire some lawyer who is so into “recovery” that he or she won’t fight hard and properly defend them, either.

The very first kind of help a lawyer needs to provide is to get the client out of trouble.

Who wants to be ordered into some treatment center or treatment program that he or she doesn’t need?

In addition to that, we need to protect the client from getting hammered with things like difficult probation that includes unnecessary alcohol and drug testing or substance abuse treatment.

When a client does want help, however, we can help explore his or her treatment options and refer him or her to the right kind of treatment provider.

While we’re proud to be able to do that, the simple fact is that, first and foremost, you hire a lawyer to save your a$$. Everything after that is gravy.

The High Cost Of Bad Decisions

The reality is that a lot of the trouble people get into, especially those that result in DUI, criminal or drug possession charges, are the result of poor decisions made after drinking or using some other kind of intoxicant.

Imagine if you asked a law-abiding, non-drug using person, “Would you mind keeping these Vicodin pills (or this cocaine) in your pocket while we drive around?”

They’d look at you like you’re nuts!

To a drug user, however, that sometimes doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

The fact is that the court system doesn’t have it completely wrong about alcohol and drug problems and the role they have in criminal and DUI cases.

However, that same system doesn’t always get it right, either.

Not every DUI driver has a drinking problem. As your lawyers, we must find the right balance between these seemingly competing positions and produce the best outcome possible for the client.  Here’s what I mean:

If, as lawyers, we’re really going to help a client that we know is struggling with something like an obvious drinking problem, it will generally be counter-productive to start preaching something like, “You need help.”

No matter what, we are lawyers, and, as stated above, our first job is to protect the client from the fallout of a poor decision. We genuinely help good people out of bad situations.

That said, as much as saying “you have a problem!” can send a person running for the hills, it is truly a failure, at the human level, to simply pretend nothing is wrong, either.

Ultimately – and this is a motto of our firm – success in a criminal or DUI case is best measured by what does NOT happen to you. Specifically, that means avoiding as many of the legal penalties and negative consequences as possible.

Our Firm IS Different

My team and I understand the processes involved in the development, diagnosis, treatment of and recovery from alcohol and substance abuse problems. We know how people can struggle.

We also know that the courts can often “see” a problem that doesn’t exist. Other times, it may see any such one that does exist as being worse than it really is.

We understand what’s involved in the substance abuse evaluation process.

We know how to obtain and skillfully use an independent alcohol and/or drug evaluation to make things better for our clients. If a treatment plan is needed, we can help with that so that the client isn’t just left on his or her own.

The last thing anyone needs is to get involved in (and pay for) unnecessary services from some healthcare or treatment provider.

Experience has proven to us that the best legal advice begins by being honest with the client and giving him or her the information to properly consider the full scope of his or her situation.

Double Trouble Debbie

Consider this hypothetical:

Assume we get a call from Debbie the Driver who is charged with a 2nd offense DUI.  Her 1st offense took place about 5 years ago.

This time she was pulled over for speeding, and her BAC came back at 0.14.

Debbie knows she’s in trouble, but she insists that she “didn’t feel that bad” when she was driving and that she really does not drink that much, or that often, anyway.

She hates the idea that she’s going to lose her license and be treated, as she describes it, “like an alcoholic, because I’m NOT. I don’t drink every day.”

It would be very easy for some lawyer to just agree with Debbie and say, “We won’t let that happen.” Except for making her feel pretty good about handing her money over, that approach does NOTHING to help her.

As we’ve seen, under Michigan law, it’s a foregone conclusion that Debbie has some kind of problematic relationship to alcohol.

The thing is, Debbie is in big-time legal trouble. She’s not particularly interested in being “saved” from her relationship to alcohol by some lawyer. Instead, her first concern is staying out of jail.

Even if she suspects that her drinking might be a problem, she doesn’t want to be lectured about it by her attorney. She wants her lawyer, first and foremost, to save her license and keep her out of jail.

Real Legal Help

As honest lawyers, my team and I couldn’t mislead Debbie and pretend that there’s nothing to her drinking, and this whole 2nd offense drunk driving is just all bad luck.

If she goes to court with that attitude, Debbie is in for a beat-down by the judge, anyway.

We would be duty-bound to explain to Debbie that, while we’re not labeling her (alcoholic, alcohol abuser, binge drinker, problem drinker, etc.), neither can we ignore the fact that her drinking has become risky, given that she’s now going through a 2nd DUI within 5 years.

To get a single DUI can be bad luck, but by the time a person gets a second, any clinically sound evaluation will conclude that drinking is some kind of problem for him or her.

Moreover, as we’ve seen, Michigan law draws that same conclusion.

Consider this analogy:

Someone goes to a restaurant, eats, and winds up sick the next day.

Most people probably wouldn’t go back to that restaurant, even if the reason for their getting sick was a mere coincidence.

However, let’s assume our diner goes back several times and eats at that same restaurant without getting sick.

Then, one day, after eating there again, the person DOES get sick a second time.

Just about everyone would agree that it’s time to stay out of that place. Nobody same would keep going back.

Most people wouldn’t have to think of anything more than the fact that the same restaurant was the cause of someone getting sick twice. Whatever else, something is wrong, even if it is just repeat bad luck in such situations, or the person’s particular digestive sensitivities.

The “fix” is to just avoid that place in the future.

It’s no different when it comes to repeatedly getting in trouble related to drinking and/or drug use.

We’ll Be Straight With You

The bottom line is that people hire a lawyer for help. Real help starts with being honest. You hand your money over to a lawyer to get your situation made better.

To be sure, my team and I aren’t here to lecture, or preach. While our first priority is to produce the best possible outcome in every case we take, we also care deeply about our clients’ well-being.

Any lawyer can get paid to stand next to the client in court and babble on about him or her being “sorry.” A person who doesn’t know better probably won’t expect better.

My team and I do know better, however, so we take the extra steps to DO better, and, in turn, produce better results, not just in the case, but for the client, as a person.

• Remember, in a criminal or DUI case, success is best measured by what does NOT happen to you.
• In a driver’s license restoration or clearance case, there is only 1 measure of success – winning. You either win your license back, or not. 

Our firm never settles for “or not,” and that’s precisely why we GUARANTEE to win every license restoration and clearance appeal case we take.

Get The Help You Need

If you’re looking for a lawyer to restore your driving privileges, or defend a criminal or DUI charge, or you’re just looking on behalf of a loved one, be a wise consumer and read around. This blog is a great place to start. Pay attention to how different lawyers break down these cases, and how they explain their various approaches to them.

Once you’ve done enough reading, start calling around. You can learn a lot by speaking with a live person, and that’s exactly what you’ll get when you contact our office.

We offer a free consultation that is both confidential, and, best of all, done over the phone, right when you call.

My team and I are very friendly people who will be glad to answer your questions and explain things. We’ll even be happy to compare notes with anything some other lawyer has told you.

We can be reached Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (EST) at either 248-986-9700 or 586-465-1980. You can also message us through our contact form.