If a complaint or formal allegation has been lodged against your architect permit, it is essential to understand its repercussions on your career and income. An architect permit revocation or withdrawal will disrupt or, in the worst cases, permanently end your profession. Other disciplinary actions like citations and reprimands will only establish a personal record that potential employers and customers will find, denting your reputation and chances of securing or retaining a job. However, you can prevent these penalties promptly by hiring a license defense lawyer early in the case.

At the San Diego License Attorney, we know a minor error can jeopardize your license and capacity to generate income. We are dedicated to defending your license from any accusations. We will begin crafting a defense immediately after you hire us to try to resolve the case through settlement negotiations. If negotiations fail, we will represent you in the administrative proceeding for a fair verdict.

Services of a Modern Architect

When you stroll through California, you will see multiple buildings that give the community a beautiful look. All these structures are designed and approved by licensed architects. Architects also plan construction projects and appear on site for supervision to ensure they achieve a remarkable outcome that meets the client’s expectations and adheres to the local municipal code for buildings.

Today’s architect wants functionality, efficiency, aesthetic appeal, safety, and structural soundness. However, satisfying the customers and local government authorities is daunting. You must possess skills attained through years of instruction, education, and a lengthy and expensive licensing process.

Nevertheless, despite the years and cost of obtaining a practicing license, you could lose it within a short duration because of an exaggerated complaint. You are liable for any issue with a structure you designed and approved, even when the problem is unrelated to your responsibilities. When a natural disaster or the contractor destroys a structure disregarding your blueprint, leading to structural issues, you will still have complaints filed against you even when you are not responsible. This means your license could be easily threatened by a mistake that is not yours. 

Other times, your license will be threatened by a genuine mistake. Even if you are the best architect in town, you are still human and prone to make mistakes. Unfortunately for you, errors on the job put many lives at risk as they make structures unsafe, so even a minor mistake could lead to a complaint and possible loss of your practicing license.

An architect license defense lawyer can defend you against accusations due to small mistakes, contractor errors, and natural calamities to ensure your career continues. However, you must find an attorney with knowledge of several complaints architects face and one who has successfully defended architects of allegations like yours.  Whatever the circumstances of your case, a knowledgeable attorney will craft solid defenses for a fair outcome.

California’s Architect Board Mission

California’s Architect Board is a subdivision of the Consumer Affairs Department. The agency protects the public by ensuring that projects undertaken by architects meet the required safety standards to safeguard them. Even though the board develops your education program and issues you with a practicing license if you are eligible, it is not always protecting you. Their mission is to protect the public, meaning they will side with the complainant when a complaint is filed against you. Nevertheless, focusing more on the needs of the public could lead to bias, where the board overlooks apparent facts of the case, endorsing false allegations.

A false accusation could end your career, which has happened in the past. When you do not build a strong defense against the accusation, the licensing agency will side with the complainant, leading to disciplinary measures that could dent your reputation or disrupt your career. Therefore, whether or not you believe you are innocent, you should speak to a proficient defense attorney to defend you. The legal representative will reveal the facts of the case the board could have overlooked to prove that you did not engage in the alleged misconduct or gross negligence.

Ways the Board Achieves Its Goals

Your licensing agency achieves its mandates by controlling industry standards that licensed architects must abide by. Additionally, they set and enforce the rules that govern the industry. The board receives complaints from the public, and if the accusations are proven, it imposes disciplinary actions to compel you to comply with the regulations or stop you from practicing through an architect license revocation.

Another role of the licensing agency is to receive accusations from the public and investigate the justifiable ones. Not all complaints the board receives are genuine. Some cannot be justified or substantiated. Hence, they are dropped. The remaining ones are further investigated to determine if there is solid evidence to prove an architect engaged in a violation.

The board prioritizes severe violations, while the less serious offenses are addressed later. Justifiable complaints are assigned to board investigators or detectives who examine the facts of the allegation to determine if there is evidence to corroborate them. Sometimes, these investigators are forced to conduct a sting operation at your project site or office to gather the evidence they need to submit your file to the Attorney General for filing formal accusations. Other times, the detectives will call you to ask questions about the allegations. If these investigators call you, request that they give you time to talk to your attorney before answering their questions. Doing so will ensure you do not disclose critical information that could incriminate you.

Be aware that board investigators will approach you if they want to help you resolve your problem. Nevertheless, the truth is these individuals are not your friends and are only laying a trap for you to incriminate yourself. Therefore, before engaging these parties, speak with your defense lawyer.

Talk to your attorney immediately after you receive an inquiry notice. It enables the attorney to take control of the case and resolve it early to avoid disruptions in your practice. However, even if you cannot hire an attorney early in the case, it is never too late to enlist their services. You can bring in an attorney at any phase of the complaint to increase your odds of a favorable verdict.

The Administrative Proceeding

Many minor complaints against architects are resolved through negotiations mediated by the board. However, in severe violations with compelling evidence, the board forwards your case to the AG, who serves you with an accusation notice. If you file an answer within fifteen days, the AG schedules an administrative proceeding to allow you and the board’s defense team to make your arguments.

When minor violations are proven, the board imposes lenient disciplinary measures like public reprimands, fines, and citations. Even though these punishments are lenient, they appear on your professional record, denting your reputation and making it difficult to secure employment. However, these penalties are not final. Your legal counsel can convince the board to reduce your fines to avoid financial strain. Additionally, they can compel the Architects Board to keep the reprimand and citation private instead of making it public. That way, even though the board has warned you, your potential employers and clients will not know about the reprimand or citation, protecting your reputation.

Examples of severe violations that result in complaints against architects are:

  • Incompetence or gross negligence when executing professional responsibilities
  • Obtaining the architect permit through fraudulent means
  • Allowing unlicensed assistants to work under you
  • Intentional misconduct or recklessness
  • Professional misconduct
  • Conflict of interest involving your position as an architect
  • A prior conviction of an offense substantially or significantly related to your job
  • Infringement of the Architects Protection Act and other statutes
  • Being under disciplinary action outside of California
  • Workplace alcohol or substance abuse

Although these are severe violations, an experienced attorney can still help you contest the accusations by exposing the weaknesses in the board’s evidence and testimonies presented against you for dismissal. If the evidence against you is overwhelming and the allegations will be proved imminently, your lawyer can enter a settlement negotiation for a stipulated settlement. The talks are generally between you and the deputy AG. Once a settlement is reached, it is forwarded to the licensing agency, which votes on whether to adopt or reject the agreed-upon terms. A favorable settlement will allow you to continue practicing uninterrupted, although under particular restrictions.

If the attorney cannot negotiate a settlement and a win is not viable, they can present mitigating circumstances to the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) presiding over the case. The lawyer presents these mitigating circumstances to counter the deputy AG’s aggravating factors. If there is evidence to support these factors in mitigation, the ALJ will recommend less severe disciplinary measures like staying a revocation and imposing license probation instead.

No attorney can guarantee a given outcome in an administrative hearing. Therefore, even with proper representation, it is possible for the ALJ’s recommendations adopted by the board to be unfavorable. If you are unsatisfied with the decision, you can appeal within 30 days. However, you must appeal the board’s verdict in fifteen days for a citation.

When recommending disciplinary measures, the ALJ must follow the protocols and guidelines set by the Architects Board. However, depending on the mitigating and aggravating situations, they can deviate from these guidelines.

The circumstances that influence the outcome of the administrative process are:

  • Previous disciplinary history of the architect license
  • Admitting that there was a violation
  • The severity of your violation or offense
  • The harm or injuries that could have stemmed from your professional misconduct or negligence
  • The time that has lapsed since your conviction
  • If it has been considerably long since your previous violation and you have not engaged in a new offense
  • Whether you have adhered to the probationary terms
  • Whether you face one or multiple accusations and if the violations have a resemblance
  • Whether you have put efforts into rehabilitation to avoid the same events in the future

If your attorney presents mitigating factors highlighting the strengths of your case, you will face less strict punishment with fewer disruptions in your profession.

Criminal Accusations and your Architect Permit

The architect's board can pursue restrictions on your license from the court when charged or found guilty of particular criminal violations.

Any previous guilty verdict with a substantial relationship to your architectural duties or credentials could cause the board to revoke or deny you a permit renewal. The least punishment you can face for a conviction significantly related to your profession is probation, usually when the licensing agency places a stay on a permit revocation. When the court stays a revocation, you receive a license suspension lasting no more than ninety days and a probationary term of at most 60 months.

The board can petition the court to impose certain restrictions for pending criminal cases relating to your architectural obligations. The court can order that you meet certain mandatory conditions to obtain a license or impose interim suspension orders (ISO). An ISO prevents you from practicing architecture while awaiting the determination of the criminal charges pending before the court.

Charges that could trigger the board to request the court to impose limitations on your professional permit are:

  • Petty theft
  • Grand theft
  • Insurance fraud
  • Simple possession
  • Possession for sale
  • Domestic violence
  • DUI
  • Sexual battery

Any restrictions the board seeks against your license after arrest or criminal charges can be overturned with the help of a lawyer. It is only fair for the licensing agency to impose restrictions after a conviction. Therefore, if the court has imposed limitations on your architect permit before a conviction, talk to an attorney to file motions to lift the restrictions to enable you to practice uninterrupted until you stand trial and the court issues a verdict.

Professional License Probation

Serving license probation is not the ideal situation because of the restrictions. However, it is better than being unable to practice entirely because of a withdrawal or revocation. Probation is advantageous because it prevents disruption of your practice. Therefore, when the possible disciplinary measure is a license cancellation, your lawyer can negotiate a revocation suspension and instead have you placed on a probation program.

If you infringe on the probationary terms, the program will be canceled, and the initial penalties, which include license suspension or cancellation, will be imposed.

Find a Proficient Architect License Defense Lawyer Near Me

Architects are held to a high standard because of the nature of their obligations. Many strive to uphold these standards, but unfortunately, a simple complaint can result in an investigation and punishment by the licensing board. At San Diego License Attorney, we can defend against the accusations to protect your professional license. Also, our attorneys can help if your license application has been denied or you need a reinstatement. Call us at 858-665-2455 for a no-obligation case discussion.