Are there any advantages in having an informal hearing with the Secretary of State?

As a license reinstatement lawyer in Illinois for the past 17 years, I have many clients ask me if there are any advantages to having an informal hearing as opposed to a formal administrative hearing in order to clear their license.  I believe there are many advantages to having an informal hearing with the Secretary of State. First, as long as you have the treatment documents ready and you have your “ticket” to get into the hearing, the informal hearing with the Secretary of State gives you the advantage that you do not need to have an appointment before hand.  This leads to the second advantage that if you get a quick hearing to reinstate your license with the Secretary of State, you will most likely get a faster response that you would if you had done the alternative and waited and applied for the formal administrative hearing.

While I have been successful at getting people their licenses back with both informal and formal hearings, I have found the formal hearing is the most predictable type of hearing – but the questions that will be asked at the formal and informal hearings are 98% the same. I always prepare both my informal and formal hearing clients with virtually the same worksheet meaning that they will be ready to answer questions as if they went to either hearing.

If you're unsure whether or not you need a formal or informal hearing to get your license back or you're from out-of-state and don't know how to begin the process, feel free to contact my office at any time to help you get your license back in Illinois.

License Reinstatement Lawyer John W. Callahan