Do Driving Records Count Against Lawyers?

In an article for the Daily Record, the author certainly thinks so.

The author accuses mayor of Morristown, New Jersey, Tim Dougherty, of not property vetting his proposed municipal prosecutor, Craig Gigallon.

Albeit, Gilgallon has an extensive driving record of 2o suspensions in 20 years. He was arrested for driving while intoxicated in 2004. The license, however, show mostly short periods of suspension for failure to pay fine or failure to appear.

What the author may not be aware of is that most traffic offenses are not considered criminal offenses - even license suspension. Also, if a motor vehicle report is considered when making hiring decisions, most records only go back for three years - some states have longer or even shorter limitations than that.

The author argues that as prosecutor he will be prosecuting others for the same offenses, and that is a good point.

What do you think? Are driving records with extensive histories to be considered when vetting for lawyers jobs?

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Student Shares His Name with Bad Driver

Michael Taylor is a pre-law student at Sacramento State.

He is 25 years old and the State of California is certain his DMV record has been severely tainted - enough so that he's been denied employment, his insurance rates have gone up, and all because his name is Michael Benjamin Taylor.

His name has been confused with the Michael Joseph Taylor who was busted in a 2007 car accident for driving without a license and not have proof of insurance. It led to a warrant after failure to appear.

Michael believes that only the suspect's first and last names, as well as the birth date, are being used to track his offenses. Michael has been to the DMV to no avail. Even if something can be removed from his record, something new pops up in a few months. He's battled this way for nearly 6 years.

After considering changing his name, he finally got the media involved. A local news team was able to correct the mistake at the DMV and prevent more mistakes from happening in the future.

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Driving Records Reveal Bad Track Record

Most people feel their driving record is not a major reflection of their character, but motor vehicle reports can be just as important and as effective as running a criminal background check.
That's what Andrew Seekings has discovered after facing nearly a dozen traffic violations when he hopped on his motorcycle in a local neighborhood and travelled at speeds close to 140 MPH with cocaine in his pocket. He is charged with possession of a controlled substance, reckless driving, driving on a revoked license, driving an uninsured motor vehicle, two counts of speeding and five other traffic offenses after the high-speed drive early Thursday evening through parts of his hometown.

The cocaine charge will be a felony offense, but the other charges are considered traffic violations. Only an MVR report could reveal the dangerous character behind this man's criminal record.

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