In a heavily regulated industry it is no surprise that some Adult Residential Facilities face the unfortunate event of being served with a license revocation action. Fortunately, owners of ARF’s do not have to face the Department’s attorney alone. ARF owners are entitled to hire their own legal representation. Once retained, a license defense attorney can file a Notice of Defense, engage in settlement negotiations and represent the licensee at the administrative hearing.
The First Step
Many licensees wait too long before contacting a license defense attorney. Licensees served with an Accusation seeking revocation of the license have a limited amount time to file a Notice of Defense. Licensees receiving a Non-Compliance conference letter often choose to represent themselves only to find the forum the last step before an administrative action. Accordingly, many licensees facing either an administrative action or non-compliance conference benefit from legal representation early in the process. With representation an advantageous settlement or resolution may be reached that allows the adult residential facility to continue operations. Therefore, the first step for many licensees is to contact a license defense attorney for a free consultation.
Flat Fees
Many clients are hesitant to hire an attorney due to cost. To help make the cost of legal representation affordable and predictable our attorneys charge flat fees for pre hearing defense and representation at the hearing. For example*, our attorney may charge a flat fee of $8,000 for pre hearing defense. If the attorney is able to reach an advantageous settlement no further fee will be charged. However, if the case proceeds to hearing the attorney will charge a second flat fee for representation at the hearing, for purposes of this example we’ll say that the second flat fee is $5,000. Accordingly, should the client’s case proceed all the way to hearing the attorney fees will only total $13,000, a sharp reduction from the often exorbitant total fees in hourly billing arrangements. Likewise, if the client’s case settles before hearing the attorney fees will only total $5,000.
*The figures used in the above example are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent actual fees. You may be charged more than the figures used in this example.