Two recent developments could have more lawyers in trouble with the State Bar of California, the regulatory agency that oversees the practice of law in this state. First, the State Bar has instituted an online complaint procedure (in English and Spanish) for attorney misconduct and the unauthorized practice of law. Read more…
As discussed in several of our previous blog posts, having a criminal conviction on your record can negatively impact your application for a professional license. Sometimes, the convictions are erroneous and can be corrected by contacting the Department of Justice or through petitioning for factual innocense. However, in the event the criminal Read more…
On November 12, 2015, Steven L. Simas will be presenting before the Criminal Defense Law Section of the San Luis Obispo County Bar Association. The topic of the presentation is “Between a Rock and a Hard Place – When Criminal Law Overlaps Administrative Law.” Mr. Simas is the founding member Read more…
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) today issued a nationwide alert about the dangers of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues/compounds. Fentanyl is commonly laced in heroin, causing significant problems across the country, particularly as heroin abuse has increased. “Drug incidents and overdoses related to fentanyl are occurring at an alarming Read more…
Mistakes on your criminal record can be devastating to professional licensees such as those Simas & Associates, Ltd. represents. This blog discusses the process for correcting these mistakes. Correcting Mistakes on Your Criminal Record Under California law, the Office of the Attorney General and Department of Justice are responsible for Read more…
Our office speaks to many licensees after they have been arrested – these arrests can range from driving under the influence, domestic violence, drug possession, assault, and even manslaughter. Often, licensees ask us how their boards or agencies knew about their arrests before he or she even reported it. For Read more…
Our law firm works with professional licensees on a regular basis. Many of these individuals are independent, hard-working individuals, with usually barely enough time to handle their personal lives, let alone to administer or organize their profession as a going concern. This lack of time is often a direct cause Read more…
California voters have passed Proposition 47, a law that will reduce simple drug possession and some property crimes to misdemeanors, with 59 percent of the vote, according to statewide ballot returns. That means, effectively immediately, California joins about a dozen other states across the country with misdemeanor drug possession laws. The Read more…
On September 28, 2014, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 2396, which provides that an individual with an expunged conviction cannot be denied a license solely because of the expunged conviction, notwithstanding any other law in the Business and Professions Code. This new law gives relief to applicants applying to certain Read more…
If you are arrested in California for driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% with an out-of-state driver's license, your driver's license will not be immediately confiscated. However, you will be notified that your driving privileges in the state of California will be suspended in thirty (30) days. Wow, just reading Read more…