If your professional licensing agency has issued an adverse decision against you, you are probably worried the career you worked so hard to establish is ruined. The good news is that you may be able to get the decision reversed and save your career before too much damage is done.
It is often possible to file a writ or appeal to ask the court to reverse the professional licensing agency’s decision to suspend or revoke your professional license. However, you only have a limited amount of time to file a writ or appeal after the decision is made, so it is important to act quickly and with the proper assistance.
How do I know if I should try to reverse the decision against me?
The best way to determine if you should take the step of filing a writ or appeal is to meet with an attorney who has in-depth knowledge of professional licensing law who can evaluate your situation.
Even in cases where you are not sure if your license suspension or revocation was warranted or not, it is still worth meeting with an experienced lawyer because the negative effects of a license suspension or revocation are so severe.
Ultimately, your attorney will be looking into whether the licensing agency “abused its discretion” when making its decision.
How does the writ or appeal process work in California?
After a licensing agency has made an unfavorable ruling against you, your first chance to get the decision reversed is by filing a writ of administrative mandamus to the Superior Court.
Typically, you only have 30 days from the day the licensing agency’s adverse decision goes into effect to file a writ with the court.
You can also ask the court to stop the licensing agency’s decision to suspend or revoke your license while the writ is pending so that you can continue working.
If the writ is not successful at reversing the decision, you still have another option and that is to file an appeal to the California Court of Appeals. Typically, appeals must be filed within 60 days of the Superior Court’s decision on the writ.
