How do I get my driver’s license reinstated after being convicted of a DUI charge?

Is your driver's license revoked for a DUI in Illinois?  If so, the process is daunting for many people to even consider starting.  Attorney John W. Callahan has represented thousands of clients and helped them all get their license reinstated.  His success rate is close to 97% on the first try and he has never had a client that has been unable to get cleared up so long as that client is legally eligible for a driver's license. 

In Illinois, after you are convicted of one DUI charge, you will lose your driving privileges.  This typically does not happen on your first DUI in Illinois because Illinois normally gives you what is called court supervision, and this avoids the conviction on the DUI.  If you pick up a DUI from outside of Illinois, that conviction of the DUI charge will typically transfer over to Illinois and result in the revocation of your driving privileges.  When you are revoked for just one DUI arrest, the process will be to take you into what is called an informal hearing at one of the many Secretary of State facilities in Illinois where driver’s license lawyer, John W. Callahan, can assist you with that process. 

When a person picks up a second DUI charge in Illinois, that normally results in a DUI conviction because the person is not eligible for court supervision.  At that point, the person is going to have his or her driver's license revoked and will wind up needing to go to what is called a formal hearing in either Chicago, Joliet, Mount Vernon or Springfield.  At these hearings, there are attorneys and an administrative law judge who work against the client in their efforts to try to get their driving privileges back. 

The most important thing to consider in trying to move forward with a driver's license reinstatement is that it is like having your appendix taken out.  Everybody knows where their appendix is, everybody knows where it hurts if it is infected, but the details of actually taking it out yourself are a lot more complicated than you think and that is how Mr. Callahan relates the process to his clients.  He has done this thousands of times and has the experience to know how to deal with minor and major problems should they arise in the person's case.  For example, should the person testify that they have increased tolerance, should they testify that they have had hangovers, should they testify that they have drank more than intended in the past, all of these questions may be yes for certain clients and no for other clients depending on the risk category classification from the alcohol evaluation. 

Attorney Callahan will always try to review the treatment documents to make sure that the alcohol treatment will satisfy the Secretary of State's formal hearing requirements when they go through this process.  Once the treatment documents look good, then the next step is to make sure that the client is fully prepared for the hearing by reviewing the worksheet that Attorney Callahan provides them.  Once that worksheet is memorized and the treatment documents are good, then we schedule a hearing with the Secretary of State Formal Administrative Hearing facility and about 60 days after the hearing is completed, you will get your results. 

If you have any question whatsoever about the driver's license reinstatement process, feel free to contact Attorney, John W. Callahan, at any time.