California Professional License Defense Attorney

Administrative law and professional license defense is a unique area of law with its own laws, statutes, rules and regulations.

As such, if you are dealing with a professional licensing matter with one of California’s numerous licensing boards or agencies such as the CA Board of Registered Nursing, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the CA Department of Consumer Affairs, the CA Department of Insurance, the CA Bureau of Real Estate, the Board of Behavioral Sciences or the Department of Social Services, you need an experienced professional license defense attorney.

Below is a brief summary of some of the procedural options open to those who have had a CA professional license denied, revoked or surrendered in the past. Again, the following is just a brief overview and you are encouraged to contact CA Administrative Law Attorney Jonathan Turner for further consultation. Mr. Turner is experienced in handling nearly every professional licensing situation in CA including disciplinary issues related to nursing licenses, teaching credentials, medical licenses, physician assistant licenses, occupational therapy licenses, physical therapy licenses, respiratory care licenses, insurance licenses, real estate licenses, real estate appraiser licenses, court reporter licenses, day care licenses, psychology licenses, dental board licenses, pharmacy board licenses, and many others.

• Reinstatement Petitions (CA Government Code section 11522): If you have had a license revoked or you surrendered your license in lieu of revocation, then you may at some point in the future petition for reinstatement of the license. Most boards have a required period of time, often anywhere from 1 – 5 years before they will consider reinstatement. Reinstatement petitions are considered at the board’s discretion and normally require a showing of rehabilitation.
• License Surrender: Often the professional licensing agency will allow the licensee to surrender their license in lieu of going through formal disciplinary proceedings. However, a surrendered license is often just as difficult at getting reinstated as one that was revoked following an administrative hearing. Before agreeing to a surrender of your license, you should consult with an experienced professional license defense attorney like Jonathan Turner.
• Reconsideration (CA Government Code section 11521): If the licensing board opts to discipline a license via denial, suspension or revocation following an administrative hearing, the licensee can request formal Reconsideration of the decision. This request must be made within a specific period of time however. Furthermore, boards generally will not change their decision based simply on a reconsideration request unless the licensee or license applicant presents some new evidence that was not available at the time of the administrative hearing.
• Writs of Mandate (see CA Code of Civil Procedure section 1094.5 and CA Government Code section 11523): A Writ of Mandate or Administrative Writ of Mandamus also referred to as “Judicial Review” my many CA licensing boards, is the main way to appeal a decision to discipline a CA professional license. Discipline may include license denial, placement on probation, suspension or revocation. A Writ of Mandate must be filed within a short period of time after the agency makes its decision. Writs are extremely complicated matters and should be handled by an experienced writ of mandate attorney. Jonathan Turner is the rare attorney with significant administrative writ experience.