From Silicon Valley to Southern California, the Golden State employs licensed professionals throughout all fields of work and earning strata. No matter what exactly you do for a living in California, if you're a license-holding professional, that license is the passkey to your livelihood.
If you face an allegation of misconduct or lack of professional fitness, your license could be at risk. This means that your career and earning power could be in jeopardy. Do not try to defend yourself against the professional licensing board that holds your future in its hands. Let an experienced attorney-advisor from the Lento Law Firm Team defend you.
Professional License Defense Services in California
With a population of about 40 million people, California boasts a robust economy and droves of licensed professionals in every conceivable industry. From doctors to programmers, government employees, trade workers, and beyond, licenses help the California economic engine humming.
With such a large state and economy, it's common for licensed professionals to become a statistic. Your industry's licensing board may not do the necessary due diligence to ensure you receive a fair investigation, hearing, and case outcome—unless we demand that they do.
It is important to understand how high-stakes your license defense is, and how immensely an experienced attorney-advisor from the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team can help you. Our firm will lead every step of your defense in a thorough, detailed, impassioned manner.
You can continue to focus on your professional and personal responsibilities as our legal team fights for your career, reputation, and livelihood in California.
How Professional Licensing Boards in California Process Complaints
Though every industry typically follows different procedures, the adjudication of professional complaints has common threads. The sequence we often see our professional clients in California endure includes:
Someone Lodges a Complaint
Every professional industry in California has channels for lodging complaints. For example, the California Department of Consumer Affairs receives complaints filed against licensed contractors. The Medical Board of California (MBC) receives complaints lodged against medical professionals, including physicians.
The filing of a complaint is typically the first step that puts a professional's license at risk. We have seen clients suffer because of complaints from:
- Clients
- Patients
- Customers
- Coworkers
- Bosses
- Regulators
- General observers
You may already be the subject of a complaint if you're reading this. Therefore, the greatest concern is the adjudication process that lies ahead.
The Licensing Board Investigates the Complaint
Each professional licensing and oversight committee sets standards for investigating complaints. As a general blueprint, a licensing board:
- Reviews the complaint, determining whether there is merit for an investigation
- Determines whether it can resolve the matter directly with the party accused of misconduct or whether further investigation of misconduct is necessary
- Completes its investigation, which may include speaking with the complainant, speaking with the accused professional, interviewing witnesses, and evaluating evidence
Adjudicating bodies should conduct investigations in good faith with objectivity. An attorney-advisor from our Professional License Defense Team will accompany you to interviews (when permitted) and ensure that investigators see all favorable evidence and witness accounts.
Resolution Negotiations Occur
One professional licensing board notes that, once it has completed its investigation of a professional accused of misconduct, it will either dismiss the case or find that the professional committed misconduct. In the latter case, the licensing body will either:
- Implement a resolution that does not include formal discipline
- Notify the accused professional that the licensing board will file charges and attempt to settle the case
A professional (and theirattorney-advisor) can review the discipline the licensing board is proposing. They may choose to accept responsibility and sanctions (settling the matter) or continue fighting to clear their name or secure lesser sanctions.
Many professional industries in California follow this or a similar framework. Unless the investigating body dismisses the allegations against you, then you will have to decide whether to settle or fight. Our team can help you make this decision.
A Hearing Occurs If Necessary
Professionals who disagree with investigators' ruling or are not willing to accept settlement terms will likely brace for a hearing. Most professional hearings typically involve:
- Presentation of evidence (usually, the side trying the case against the professional makes their argument first)
- Presentation of witnesses
- Cross-examination of witnesses
- Closing arguments
If you hire the Lento Law Firm Team, we will lead any necessary hearing for you. Depending on the unique circumstances of your case, it may be appropriate for you to testify at your hearing.
The Professionals' Representatives File an Appeal (If Necessary)
Our target for every professional license defense in California is dismissing the case. In some cases, we're seeking the most lenient sanctions possible—when a client admits to wrongdoing, for example.
However, professional sanctioning bodies sometimes get it wrong. In these instances, our attorney-advisors utilize all available appeal channels as we attempt to reverse an incorrect decision.
Reasons to Hire a License Defense Professional From the Lento Law Firm Team Serving California
For many of our clients, accusations of misconduct seemingly come out of nowhere. There is no way to prepare for an unforeseen or baseless allegation of wrongdoing, and our clients are often still processing the gravity of their circumstances by the time they hire us.
Our legal team wants to ease your mind, provide invaluable legal services, and give you moral and psychological support at this stressful juncture in your life. There are several reasons to hire the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team, including:
- Our dedication to professional license defense cases: Defending professionals is what our team does. We understand the high stakes that professional sanctions impose, and our urgent legal approach reflects what is at risk. Our focus on professional license defense issues has also provided invaluable training, knowledge, and experience to rely on as we defend you.
- Your psychological and physical wellbeing: Often, our professional clients in California are dealing with personal and professional demands even as sanctioning bodies threaten their license. This is simply too much for one person to manage. Our firm will take your license defense off of your hands and off of your mind, preserving your wellbeing as a result.
- Our substantial personnel and resources: Defending your professional license is a no-holds-barred scenario. Our firm relies on a network of attorney-advisors, paralegals, investigators, and experts when we represent professionals like you. These resources are built into the fee structure that we'll explain before you hire us.
No matter how accomplished you are as a professional, or how unfounded the allegations against you are, accept help. There is too much for you to lose, and going it alone is not the right approach when your license is on the line.
How Our Legal Team Serving California Will Assist You
We offer comprehensive license defense services. Whether you're a doctor with decades of experience, a newly-minted tradesman, or any other professional, we will handle your case as if it is our only responsibility.
You will get the services of a dedicated attorney-advisor and their team, and that team will:
- Secure all evidence that supports your license defense
- Identify, contact, and interview any witnesses who can speak to your character or innocence of the allegations against you
- Retain any experts whose opinions or services benefit your license defense
- Manage all communications with the licensing board overseeing your case
- Accompanying you to interviews and hearings, and serving as your mouthpiece during these critical meetings
- Negotiating a resolution with licensing bodies or other institutions overseeing your case
- Managing any necessary appeals
The Lento Law Firm Team has resolved many cases by negotiating directly with other attorneys. The licensing board managing your case may have an Office of General Counsel (OGC), and we'll explore any resolutions that the OGC can offer.
Our experience resolving many prior license defense cases may prove advantageous as we seek to clear your name.
Areas of California Our Legal Team Serves
We believe that familiarity with specific jurisdictions can be just as valuable as familiarity with the law itself. Just as we know professional license defense procedures and rules, we know many locations throughout California well.
We serve professionals who need license defense services in:
Los Angeles
The cultural and population hub of California, Los Angeles is far more than the entertainment industry. Millions of licensed professionals call LA home, and the high cost of living in Los Angeles can exacerbate the financial cost of professional sanctions.
San Francisco
The City by the Bay remains one of the most important centers of innovation not only in the United States, but in the entire world. There is a notoriously low tolerance for perceived wrongdoing in San Francisco, though, and professionals do not always receive the due process they deserve when accused of misconduct.
San Diego
California's second-most populous city, San Diego offers much to love, from its waterfront location to its strong military culture. However, professionals in San Diego can face substantial hardship if they lose their professional license.
San Jose
San Jose rests squarely in Northern California's cradle of innovation. Many individuals who make their living in San Jose need a license to do their jobs, though, and we work to ensure they keep those licenses when allegations of wrongdoing arise.
Fresno
Fresno has a markedly different professional profile than cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, with a substantial agricultural industry spanning hundreds of millions of acres. Whether you work in the agricultural sector or another of Fresno's many professional industries, we can help protect your reputation and earning power.
Sacramento
We proudly serve clients located in California's state capital, Sacramento. This North-Central city is home to hundreds of thousands of private and public sector employees, many of whom require a license to do their jobs.
Our team of attorney-advisors is ready to assist you today, regardless of where in California you live or work. Whatever industry you occupy, let our dedicated roster of attorney-advisors and paralegals fight for a just outcome.
Allegations That Put Professionals' Licenses at Risk
The issues that a doctor faces in their career will not be the same issues that a pipe fitter or accountant faces. That's why the Lento Law Firm Team relies on a versatile team of lawyers, and a deep knowledge of professional license issues, to provide the representation you deserve.
Some of the allegations that can lead to professional sanctions are:
- Breach of contract
- Sexual or personal misconduct
- Conflict of interest
- Financial misconduct
- Fraud
- False advertising
- Physical or psychological abuse
- Improper accounting or recordkeeping
- Misrepresentation of credentials
- Endangering the welfare of others
- Drug or alcohol abuse or misuse
- Criminal behavior unrelated to your job
Do not worry if the allegations you face are not listed here. Our attorney-advisors understand that no two license defense cases are the same, and we've represented many clients facing uncommon allegations of misconduct or unfitness.
If you're facing sanctions that threaten your license, reputation, or earning power, our team can help.
Types of Professionals Who May Benefit From Our License Defense Services
If you hold a license to work in California, and you're in jeopardy of losing that license or facing other formal sanctions, the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team will fight for you. We serve licensed professionals including:
- Doctors
- Pharmacists
- Audiologists
- Truck drivers
- Insurance salesmen
- Accountants
- Mental health professionals
- Podiatrists
- Anesthesiologist
- Dentists
- Chiropractors
- Nurses
- Physician assistants
- Surveyors
- Physical therapists
- Engineers
- Real estate agents
- Teachers
- Cosmetologists
- Tradesmen
- Architects
We can help even if your job is not on this list. The range of licensed professionals in California is exhaustive, and the Lento Law Firm Team prides itself on assisting all of those professionals in their times of need—including you.
Call the Lento Law Firm Today for Your Consultation
Once you receive notice of formal misconduct allegations (or even an informal complaint), there is no time to delay. Licensing bodies may already be working towards sanctioning you, and our team wants to begin building your defense as soon as possible.
Call the Lento Law Firm Team today at 888-535-3686 or contact us online.
