First, a little information: When it comes to contract litigation and collection work, there are many sources of good information for the contractor who needs to hire an attorney. However, a contractor who needs to retain an attorney to handle the defense of their contractor’s license before the State Contractors Licensing Board (“CSLB”) has a much more difficult task: few members of the public, including the wider network of contractor connections, you’ll know a licensing attorney skilled and experienced enough to recommend. However, the stakes in a contractor license law matter can be surprisingly high, much higher than what is typically at stake in a misdemeanor criminal trial or routine business dispute that escalates into a civil litigation.
The critical degree of risk in the case of a licensing contractor is obvious: the contractor has spent a lot of time in a highly specialized and expensive educational and/or apprenticeship program. He or she has studied for months and has taken a difficult and expensive test. Then several years of climbing the steep learning curve and a lot of expense have gone into developing a viable recruiting business. For the contractor suddenly facing license revocation, the loss of the license is the loss of their job and the loss of their means of earning a living, possibly the only means for which the individual contractor is qualified or can be hired. For the individual business owner, the loss of the license means closing the business, losing all income from the business, while still being obligated to pay many of the ongoing expenses incurred in order to do business. There are few civil lawsuits where your entire income and ability to earn a living hang in the balance. By this standard, then, licensing law is the last high-risk territory. Yet, even so, it is practiced out of the public eye and few of those in need of the “best” licensing attorney have any idea how to find even a competent one. This article is offered to fill that need.
Why a hit list?
Hit lists. All contractors use them. It is the document used in the construction trades to organize the successful completion of a construction project. Here is a contractor’s “Checklist” for successfully organizing a license matter. The criteria set forth are task oriented, which means this is a checklist of what a skilled licensing attorney should do. It is not an inventory of necessary personal characteristics or qualities. A brilliant mind, extensive similar specific experience, diligent work habits, impeccable honesty, and strong communication skills are critical aspects, no doubt. But there’s no need to write a checklist for those attributes: you can let everyone know that those qualities are essential. Instead, this checklist sets out what you need your licensing attorney to do on your case. Of course, each case is different in its facts and circumstances, and each case presents issues that require particular decisions and actions by the contractor’s attorney. But based on over 30 years of extensive experience, there is in fact an identifiable “hit list” for legal services that will always position the client’s case for the best possible outcome. So, in addition to the special requirements of your unique license law problem, here is what your prospective license attorney should propose to do in your case:
The Checklist for Effective Contractor Licensing Law Representation:
1. Early, complete and exhaustive data collection:
- Issue formal legal demands forcing CSLB to share the ENTIRE investigative package and ALL evidence the agency intends to use against you.
- Subpoena all witness statements, photographs, agency records, and other material that CSLB relies on for its allegations or decisions against you.
2. Early and regular intervention to reduce the case:
- Intervene immediately with the CSLB investigator and other officials to persuade the agency not to move forward, or to move forward with a less serious set of allegations and proposed sanction.
3. Periodic and ongoing skillful negotiations with representatives of the Board, including the Attorney General or CSLB Counsel, and an Administrative Law Judge serving as Settlement Officer, to reduce the allegations and the proposed sanction.
- Presentation of alternative proposals for the discipline of the license, or specific conditions of the case for the issuance of the license.
4. Professional preparation of your case:
- Identify, find, and prepare for direct and cross examination all witnesses who support your position.
- Prepare for cross-examination of all witnesses opposing you.
- Create diagrams, videos, maps, photo journals, bank books, and other exhibits that support your case.
- Prepare, file, and argue legal motions that may limit CSLB’s ability under law to discipline you, or may exclude evidence that is unfavorable to you.
5. Presentation of your case in hearing:
- Challenge the admissibility of unreliable evidence against you.
- Offer as evidence all supporting documents.
- Examine and cross-examine all witnesses.
- Argue the case and submit a full post-hearing brief applying the law to the evidence admitted at the hearing.
6. Completion of any applicable post-hearing process:
- File formal written objections to a proposed Unfavorable Decision and argue a request for reconsideration of any unfavorable decision.
- Appear before the State Contractors Licensing Board to argue for or against the Proposed Decision.
- Preserve your rights to file an expedited remedy by challenging an unfavorable agency decision in civil court.
- Preserve the integrity, accuracy and completeness of the administrative file in case a challenge is necessary in court.
That’s all! That’s the checklist for qualified representation in a contracting licensing matter. When you go in for your free consultation, these are the tasks to listen for as the lawyer outlines his plan for your case. If all the lawyer’s talk is about hearings, or about negotiations, or about any other limited portion of a contractor’s license case, be careful and move on. If the Proposed Services Agreement or Retainer Agreement does not detail the complete checklist, you should speak further or speak with other attorneys before signing and delivering a check.
When your livelihood or business is at stake, you need an attorney who can do right by you in all aspects of your fight. A license dispute where your professional identity and ability to earn a living are at stake can be the most important, costly, and emotionally challenging legal battle you will ever have in your life. Don’t go through this alone; don’t go through this with anyone who is less skilled, less capable, or less willing than you need and deserve to protect your right to your occupation.