Licensed professionals must follow certain standards of conduct, ethics, and professional care. There are certain risks that can threaten your license as a professional, whether you are a physician, a lawyer, a teacher, or another licensed professional. Complaints or criminal charges can result in investigations and the potential to lose your license. A Miami professional license defense lawyer can help you if you are facing administrative or criminal penalties.
The process that regulatory boards and agencies use to investigate and regulate the licenses of professionals and businesses can be complex. These agencies are helpful in ensuring the professional standard of an industry, but they can also cause unnecessary stress and frustration for many professionals. You can limit this stress by working with an attorney and better protect the rights you have during the process.
Even if you believe the allegation has no merit and the administrative repercussions are minor, it is crucial you work with a legal professional to protect your interests and advise you on the right course of action.
Protecting Your License and Your Livelihood With License Defense Attorneys in Miami
At the Law Office of Ramon de la Cabada, we have 34 years of legal experience, including experience in business and licensure regulatory compliance and criminal defense law. Whether you are facing an administrative hearing or disciplinary action, or criminal charges, our firm can help you protect your interests and your future.
Our firm will review complaints and listen to your side of things to effectively present this information to the regulatory board. We address the allegations made and help you understand the likely administrative process you will face. Our team ensures you meet the deadlines necessary to continue upholding your rights. We provide you with exceptional and discreet legal support and fight to protect your livelihood.
We can defend you against allegations, and we can also review your licensure and business for any non-compliance. This can help you address the issues prior to complaints, potentially preventing future threats to your license.
Professionals We Support at the Law Office of Ramon de la Cabada
Over 43 million people in the U.S. had a professional license or certification in 2018. It is always important to work with an attorney who has experience defending your unique type of professional license, particularly when you work in a field that is technically complex and involves numerous areas of compliance law.
At the Law Office of Ramon de la Cabada, we have significant experience in many areas of regulatory law and business law. We can help with the regulatory and license defense of any professional who needs a license, including licenses in the following professional areas:
- Healthcare, including physician, dentist, nurse, and technician licenses
- Healthcare facility licenses, including hospitals
- Mental health care, including psychiatrists, therapists, and social workers
- Law, including lawyers and paralegals
- Real estate
- Child care
- Teaching
- Barber licensure
- Cosmetology
- Veterinarian licensure
- Electrical engineering
- Notary services
- Private investigative agencies
- Corrections, security, and police officers
- Alcohol and tobacco sales
- Insurance agencies and professionals
- Accounting, including certified public accountant licenses
- Financial advisers
- General contractors
- Construction industry licensures
- Public adjusters
- Massage therapists
- Chiropractors
- Acupuncturists
These professionals and many others require licensure to complete their work, and accusations or complaints of misconduct can lead to the suspension or revocation of licensure. This can threaten the livelihood and reputations of these professionals.
Florida Statistics
From 2023 to 2024, the Florida Bar had 18 total disbarments out of a bar population of 112,473, as well as 27 revocations and 80 suspensions. The Florida Department of Health (DOH) took 133 discipline and administrative actions in 2024 in Miami and Miami Beach. These actions ranged from a filed administrative complaint to the revocation of the license.
These accusations and complaints can even lead to serious criminal charges depending on the investigation and administrative hearing results. Investigations can take time and be very complex, and it is crucial that professionals get legal support to protect their rights. This could help prevent more serious consequences.
Complaints Filed Against Licensed Professionals
Any person can file a complaint with the regulating agency or board for your license, whether they are a former patient or client, a coworker or colleague, an employer, a competitor, or a regulatory agency. The regulating agency for your license will depend on what type of professional license you carry. Some common regulating agencies include:
- The Florida DOH
- The Florida Certification Board
- The Florida Department of Financial Services
- The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
- The Florida Office of Financial Regulation
- The Florida Education Association
- The Florida Board of Medicine
- Florida’s Bar Division of Lawyer Regulation
- The Florida Board of Nursing
When a complaint is filed with a regulatory agency about failures of the professional standard of care or ethics, the agency opens an investigation into the allegations.
What May Cause a Complaint to Be Filed?
The allegations in a complaint can include numerous different accusations of misconduct, wrongdoing, or breaches of ethics. Some potential causes for complaints include:
- Failure to ensure proper documentation
- Improper licensure renewal or maintenance
- Negligence of their professional duty of care
- Failure to report ethics violations of other licensed professionals
- Workplace misconduct
- Substance abuse that interferes with their work
- Fraud, such as healthcare, insurance, Medicaid, or billing fraud
- Malpractice, or the deviation from the professional standard of care and causing harm
- Criminal activities
- Working outside the scope of your license
- Practicing without a license
- Companies/company owners accused of conspiring to work without a license
Complaints result in an investigation and the potential for administrative disciplinary action. If the allegations in the complaint are shown to be true, it could result in the loss of the professional’s license. Certain breaches require a regulatory board to suspend or revoke the license. An investigation, if it uncovers certain violations, could also result in a criminal case. A criminal conviction may also result in the loss of a license, on top of criminal penalties.
What Does a Professional License Defense Attorney Do for You?
There are several benefits to working with an experienced licensed defense attorney, primarily that it can eliminate or mitigate the worst consequences of the complaints you face. When you face allegations of misconduct, malpractice, or other issues, an attorney works to investigate these claims and defend you against administrative and criminal repercussions. An attorney supports you by:
- Helping you understand the process of a complaint. An attorney can help you understand what steps the regulatory board must take and what to expect from an investigation into the complaint.
- Giving you guidance on regulatory and license compliance. When you work with a skilled, licensed defense and regulatory compliance attorney, they can give you clear advice about the regulatory requirements in your profession. Many professions have numerous regulatory standards to follow, as well as ethical standards. This preventative work can help prevent future complaints.
- Protecting your rights. You have rights under the law when you face a complaint, investigation, or administrative hearing. An attorney explains those to you and helps defend them.
- Managing parallel proceedings. Protecting your interests when there is an administrative or regulatory proceeding during a criminal investigation, or vice versa.
- Representing your interests. An attorney can represent you in administrative or criminal proceedings, defending your interests. Without an attorney, you will have to represent your own interests, which is difficult to do without a complete understanding of the law and without an objective understanding of your situation. An attorney can outline the legal procedure for you.
- Discussing with the board or other regulatory agencies. During the process of an investigation and administrative action, an attorney can discuss and negotiate with regulatory agencies. Attorneys have significant experience with negotiations and may be able to find alternate methods that limit the consequences you face.
- Defending your reputation. Allegations against your professional standard of care and how you conduct yourself can severely damage your reputation as an individual and a licensed professional. Working with an attorney can help you reach a more successful outcome in the case and help protect your reputation.
When you work with the right licensed defense attorney, they can provide you with emotional and legal support during this stressful case. With a strong and proactive defense strategy during an investigation, administrative hearing, or trial, you have a better chance of a successful result.
Understanding the Process of a Complaint
When a complaint is filed with the disciplinary or regulatory board, the board will investigate it. The investigation will review the facts of the complaint, talk with the complainant and witnesses, and consider other evidence.
Eventually, you will receive a notice of the complaint and investigation, requesting a response. You are not required to respond, and it may be in your interests to say nothing. You should consult with an attorney about any response you wish to give. An attorney can advise you on the benefits and drawbacks of this communication that are unique to your particular situation.
Based on the information uncovered in the investigation, a hearing office, a panel of board members or other relevant regulatory professionals may meet to review the case. This determines if there is reason to believe that the allegations in the complaint took place and if disciplinary action should continue.
Next Steps
Following this, the case may be dropped, minor action may be taken, or an administrative complaint may be filed. If an administrative complaint is filed, more official hearings and administrative actions could be taken, and an attorney is even more important.
Let Our Firm Protect Your Rights and Your Future
When you are a licensed professional, you have put a lot of time and effort into your career. It’s crucial to protect your livelihood and act to defend yourself against accusations. At the Law Office of Ramon de la Cabada, we can help you. Contact our firm today.
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