What to do to ENSURE you get your RN License even with a past DUI.
The shortest answer to this question is the quintessential legal answer: “It depends,” but that answer is infuriating; so bear with me, and I will really answer your question and tell you exactly WHAT it depends upon and clue you in on a big secret.
As a student RN in CA with a past DUI, your ability to get your license depends on 6 factors:
1. If You Knew What You Should Be Doing In the Meantime To Better Your Chances at Success
2. How You Handled Your Initial Application
3. Whether You Properly Appealed Your Denial
4. If You Submitted the Right Mitigating Evidence
5. If You Were Able to Obtain a Rule Out Provision
6. Most Importantly, if you had legal help from someone who knew what they were doing.
1. If You Knew What You Should Be Doing In the Meantime To Better Your Chances at Success
There are a number of things that a Student RN with a past DUI conviction can do to bolster their BRN case. The BRN wants to see that the student nurse has taken responsibility for their actions, has put systems in place to ensure that there is not a reoccurrence, and is remorseful. As your legal team, we want to be able to show the BRN PROOF of these things. Give us a call; we will tell you how to do that.
2. How You Handled Your Initial Application
There is one element of the initial application where the student RN with a past DUI conviction continually shoots themselves in the foot: the letter or explanation. Anything that gets submitted to the BRN is legally admissible…. Meaning that a letter of explanation is a legally binding statement, so it better be done right. You cannot go back and change it without making yourself look dishonest or inept… neither of which is very flattering or helpful. If you have a past DUI, nothing you submit at this stage is going to prevent your application from being denied, but everything you submit at this stage is binding.
NOTE: the BRN is denying every application for initial licensure for a student RN with a DUI. It does not matter if you send in the minimum required for the application to be reviewed or if you pull up a semi-truck full of letters of recommendation. The BRN will deny you. This initial application is critical ONLY because it begins building your case from the beginning. It is very important that this part is done right.
3. Whether You Properly Appealed Your Denial
This part is not rocket science… it isn’t even legally complicated. You can completely handle this part yourself. All that needs to be done to appeal a denial is to notify the BRN that you wish to appeal and be allowed to sit for your boards. All the instructions you need will be sent with the denial. This part is easy. Then, you sit and wait for 4-6 months for the Deputy Attorney General (the Board’s lawyer and your opposing counsel) to draft the Statement of Issues. The Statement of Issues is what you will be appealing.
4. If You Submitted the Right Mitigating Evidence
At this stage, you are essentially re-submitting everything to the DAG on appeal that you submitted with the initial application because, in all likelihood, no one ever bothered to read what you sent the first time. They just saw that you had a prior DUI conviction and stamped DENIED across the front of it. Of course, you will have strategically submitted just enough in the application and saved all the good stuff for this stage. The mitigating evidence submitted now is what will convince the BRN to give you your RN license. The quality and quantity are what will determine whether you get probation with all 19 probation requirements or something less in the form of a Rule-Out Provision.
5. If You Were Able to Obtain a Rule-Out Provision
I am going to clue you in on a little secret that no other law firm will ever tell you (and will have them all furious with me): you can probably botch most of the above and STILL get your RN license. Probably. A Student RN with 1 past DUI is basically a shoo-in for a license with all 19 probation requirements unless you royally screw up… and the best lawyers in California (ours of course!) are not able to get free and clear RN Licenses for students with a DUI. So why bother with the lawyer? Because of numbers 16, 17, and 18. By ruling those out, your lawyer will save you $15,000.00 to $18,000.00 and a whole lot of headaches over the course of your probation.
6. Most Importantly, if you had legal help from someone who knew what they were doing.
I am a frequent guest speaker at RN colleges so I know that most of your schools and professors and staff are not giving you all the info you need or worse, are giving you miss-information when it comes to applying for your RN License with a past criminal conviction, like a DUI. If your only concern is getting the RN license, and you don’t care how long it takes what probation requirements you will be subjected to, or how much compliance will cost you, then you can probably handle this on your own. I’ve given you all the information you need to do this yourself.
I also know what you’ve paid in tuition and how hard you have worked to get this far. So, if you want to minimize probation and exorbitant compliance costs and better your chances at starting your career off on the right foot, get assistance from us from the beginning. For a tiny fraction of what you’ve paid in tuition, you can have an expert license defense attorney guide you through the entire process, from application to licensure. Call me. We can discuss your own unique case and determine what we can do to help you get your RN License.