The Code To Winning - REDEMPTION THROUGH LAW: THE VETERAN FIGHTING FOR SECOND CHANCES || DANIELLE SKRANAK || EPISODE 063
Episode Date: October 17, 2025MEET DANIELLE — THE VETERAN FIGHTING TO RESTORE JUSTICE IN ARIZONA Veteran-founded. Justice-driven. Committed to restoring your rights with honor and precision. Danielle is a U.S. Army Veteran, l...egal professional, and the founder of ProParalegalAZ, a firm dedicated to helping convicted felons restore their rights and reclaim their freedom. With over a decade of experience in the legal field , including time spent at the Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office. Danielle brings unmatched expertise, discipline, and compassion to her work. After serving her country, she discovered a new mission: fighting for those who deserve a second chance. She’s built a reputation for approaching every client with integrity, precision, and heart — helping people in Arizona navigate the complex process of restoring their civil and gun rights, and ultimately, their sense of dignity and hope. Danielle’s story is one of service, justice, and purpose. Through ProParalegalAZ, she’s proving that restoration isn’t just a legal process, it’s a movement toward redemption, empowerment, and a better future.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
I help convicted felons restore their civil liberties.
And those liberties include the ability to vote, to run for office, and to have firearms.
Those are the three major things that people lose once they become a convicted felon, unfortunately.
In 2022, Arizona made this new law where if you are a one-time felony conviction,
then you can have your rights automatically restored.
It doesn't include your gun rights, so you still have to petition for that separately.
But if you just have one, you can get them back.
If you have more than one, you still have to petition through the same.
state to get it back. And they'll look at your record, see if you've committed any more felonies,
if you've been a positive influence in your community to see if they will approve your application.
When you say you help restore convicted felon's rights, doesn't matter what crime they committed?
It does. Okay, can you kind of elaborate on that? There's a different classes of felonies.
You have like your kind of like classless felonies, people who have got a DUI or they've done
something kind of off the wall that landed them a conviction. There's also dangerous ones, which is those who
Usually it involves another weapon.
And those ones are very much more stringent on who can get their application approved with those.
Because normally if your firearm rights restored and you committed a felony with a weapon,
it is not going to be as lenient as they would be with a DUI.
Listen, Danielle, I need to vote for the 48th president whoever that may be.
Like, I want to be able to get my voice heard.
What's the steps and procedure that you would take?
What's the first thing we're going to go through?
The code to winning insights you need today to seize the world tomorrow.
This is again a very unique interview.
Have an amazing guest in the studio with us.
We are still in the amazing state of Arizona, the 48th state.
We're going to have an expert criminal law paralegal.
The company that she has started and founded as well, veteran founded,
Justin Driven, committed to restoring your rights with honor and precision.
Our amazing guests, I want to make sure I like these changes.
Scandinavian last name.
It's going to be Danielle Skrannick in the studio.
Welcome.
Thank you very much.
Hi, nice to meet you.
Thank you so much for having me.
Awesome stuff.
I was, like I said, I'm very fascinated to learn.
I love legal aspect of things.
It's also very important that people get to understand what are their rights.
Because for the most part, people don't even understand like what they can do, what they're
entitled to knowing, what they're entitled to like, you know, the right to having as well.
So can you give us a brief overview of exactly like what you do?
you know what your firm or company stands for?
Yeah, absolutely.
So I help convicted felons restore their civil liberties.
And those liberties include the ability to vote, to run for office, and to have firearms.
Those are the three major things that people lose once they become a convicted felon, unfortunately.
Okay.
And then why would, what's the difference?
Why would they not go to an attorney?
What is it that you guys do that's a little bit more unique and different?
Well, you're always welcome to consult an attorney.
but it's just really unnecessary.
This is such a cut and dry situation
that you can have a paralegal
or a licensed document preparer,
which I'm both,
help you fill up the paperwork
and restore your rights
at a much more affordable cost.
And I noticed as well,
I think we spoke about it earlier on,
usually like in swing states,
depending on where things were,
there were cases where many people were not allowed.
I thought as a citizen,
as an actual citizen,
I was under the impression
that every single person is entitled to vote.
So if you have a felony, you can't vote at all?
Correct.
The day you're convicted, it has gone away, yeah.
Can it be restored or how does that work?
Yeah, it can actually be restored.
So in 2022, Arizona made this new law where if you are a one-time felony conviction,
then you can have your rights automatically restored.
It doesn't include your gun rights, so you still have to petition for that separately.
But if you just have one, you can get them back.
If you have more than one, you still have to petition through this.
state to get it back. And they'll look at your record, see if you've committed any more felonies,
if you've been a positive influence in your community to see if they will approve your application.
And then how many cases, so, I mean, obviously, it's very nuanced, but how many cases,
it's a case-by-case situation, they look into certain stuff, right? What's taking a consideration
regarding that? Just if you've been employed, if you've started a family, if you've just not,
they just want to make sure that you're not going to re-offend. That's their biggest concern is they
don't want to take it away again, and then you have to apply, you know, they don't want
them back and forth. They really want to restore their rights for individuals who went to
prison, served their time, paid their restitution, and have since lived a better life.
But does it also matter which, when you say you help restore convicted felon's rights,
doesn't matter what crime they committed?
It does.
Okay, can you kind of elaborate on that?
There's a different classes of felonies.
You have like your kind of like classless felonies, people who have, I don't, I don't,
know, got a DUI or they've done something kind of off the wall that landed them a conviction.
There's also dangerous ones, which is those who usually it involves another weapon.
And those ones are very much more stringent on who can get their application approved with those.
Because normally if you're applying to have your weapons restored, your, excuse me, your firearm rights
restored and you committed a felony with a weapon, the court is not going to be as lenient as they would be with a DUI.
Okay.
And in most cases, it's kind of a solid no across the board.
There's a list of them.
Like, if you committed murder, if you raped a child, if, you know, you did a drive-by shooting, those ones are usually the ones where they say no.
And that's understandable, right?
100%.
Yeah.
100%.
And so the whole DUI thing, the reason why, I mean, I don't drink alcohol at all.
But at the same time, I feel like crimes are different.
So it's hard to really judge somebody who.
perhaps took a few sips, a few ounces of alcohol driving down like a 48th state, you know,
and then somebody that murdered or killed a family or killed somebody.
But the fact that felon is a felon, you know what I'm saying?
So that's how that.
So how do you walk somebody through the process?
So let's say now I have done that.
Like I was caught.
I drove down from Phoenix to Mesa or whatever it may be.
And I got caught and now I have a DUI.
Do you serve jail for that sometimes, depending on the situation?
Yeah, it depends on the situation.
We're a zero-tolerant state.
We are one of the worst states in the country when it comes to DUIs.
So we're much harsher on our penalties here for sure.
So it's a possibility.
I know dozens of people who have a DUI where it's an aggravated DUI,
and they did serve time.
They also had to pay thousands of dollars for a lawyer
and had to pay thousands of dollars for court fees
and tend to mad classes, mothers against destructive driving.
Those are kind of mandatory in our state now, too,
for I think almost every DUI.
But yeah, so we're just a little bit harsher here in Arizona, unfortunately.
That's crazy.
I mean, like I said, I don't drink, obviously, because of my beliefs and all that.
But like I say for somebody to go and serve time,
I guess they have the perception trying to avoid people from doing so
by having such harsher repercussions and, like, consequences regarding that as well.
However, to serve time, like, it's the same thing with the whole thing I had,
personally in my beliefs, with the whole people that were, I don't know,
distributing and selling, like marijuana.
getting like a 10-year jail prison.
I'm like, what about those, actually?
What about that if in Arizona?
If you were selling marijuana, can you get off from that?
Is that a little bit more different?
Yeah, well, I can't give you legal advice,
but I can definitely tell you at my time with the U.S. Attorney's Office,
it's not something what we normally prosecute for marijuana.
That's more of a state side.
So I don't really know.
I know that we do offer marijuana expungements in the state.
So if you're previously convicted of an offense with that involved marijuana,
you can have that expunge from your record,
which is fantastic now that we've legalized it here in our state.
But I don't know if you'd serve time for it or not.
Okay.
Then, again, I got caught.
So now I can't vote.
I can't bear arms.
I'm just a citizen, but I can't even run.
Obviously, you can't run for public office if you can't vote.
So now I'm coming into your office right now.
And I'm like, listen, Danielle, I need to vote for the 48th president,
whoever that may be.
Like, I want to be able to get my voice heard.
what's the steps and procedure that you would take?
What's the first thing we're going to go through?
Yeah, I want to look to see what your conviction would be first and foremost.
Like I said, there was a list of felonies that they just will not allow it.
And that, again, makes sense.
We were talking about the heinous crimes.
Just to see if you're eligible.
If you're eligible, then we'll kind of go through, you know, what are your goals?
Is your goal that do you want just your civil rights restored, which is the voting and running for office?
Do you want to have your firearms restored?
And then again, we'll look at the list to make sure.
you're not in those classes that dangerous or serious offenses.
And then I just help you prepare the packet.
There's a packet that's standardized across the state.
And there it's kind of like a checkbox situation where it's just like, you know,
have you reoffended since then?
Do you have a job?
Where do you live?
And what, you know, are you an upstanding citizen?
It's basically what you want to kind of display to the judge.
Because once you submit your packet, it will go before a judge or a prosecutor.
I believe it's a judge, yes.
and they will look to see if you're going to, if you're likely to re-offend or not.
But then so it's not like a thing where I just got a DUI yesterday.
I got out of prison.
It's one of those things where you'd recommend they probably go get a job, find something
to do, at least fill out like a 1099 or W2 tax form, like be an upholding citizen.
And I think just naturally by seeing that even regardless of whether you're job or not,
you can see there's a trajectory that someone seems to be following and they're trying to uphold
and being good standing with their community as well.
Exactly, yeah.
And there's a waiting period, too,
if you want to apply for your firearm rights,
you have to wait at least two years
from the date of your absolute discharge,
which is either your last day in prison
or your last day of probation.
So, yeah, there's a waiting period for it for sure.
And it works out great because in those two years,
you should be able to show that you've excelled better in life
since your imprisonment.
Oh, I love that.
My perception of paralegal, I don't know,
I'm a big fan of suits.
I just thought it was...
Yes, I also.
always get called Megan Markle. I love to be the Prince of England one day.
So that was my perception of that. And then Dakota broke it down. I'm like, well, that's,
that's very interesting because I feel like people deserve to know what their rights are because
I feel like what's the point of being a citizen if you aren't exercising your rights to be a citizen.
You know what I'm saying? And I think it's important everyone has their voices heard to actually
add to the community because you're being led by people and you have the right to vote who you
want to be led by you.
So what made you start this?
Oh, man.
Really, you know, I grew up in such an unconventional household.
My mom remarried and so I'm growing up in this biracial family.
My stepfather, he got a DUI and it was a felony DUI, unfortunately.
And it completely changed our world.
You could see just how difficult it makes an American to be able to fulfill.
his role as a father and to be able to put food on the table.
It was harder for him to get a job.
People didn't want to rent houses to us.
So it just made it extremely more difficult.
And he did four months in prison.
And when he got out, he wasn't a better person.
He didn't drink anymore.
And he really changed his life around.
But yet, we were still struggling really hard.
And I felt like it shouldn't be a lifetime sentence, essentially, to be a felon.
And so eventually I was able to get him his gun rights back and his civil liberties restored and has
Significantly better significantly better
It's wild how much we put this stigma on individuals who have a past conviction
I used to be also a military police officer at the infamous Fort Leavenworth prison
And one of the biggest things that we were told in our training is that it's not our responsibility to uphold their punishment
They're already punished by being in prison, and so we shouldn't be negative or, again, have that stigma or be biased towards them because they're felons.
You know, it's interesting.
I recently, one of my best friends is from Australia, and there was an episode that was released right now, because he had two immigration attorneys.
What happened is that he's paperwork.
It's a little different, obviously, but I'm going to talk about the experience that he faced.
he there was something that was not renewed on time and he was given misinformation but like to cut the long story short because you overstayed like a certain time with your visa yeah with the whole ice thing that end up occurring which is understandable because at the end of the day it's the laws you do understand that however he was like in a detention facility just recently in in Nevada for like two three weeks oh wow and he was beyond like traumatized because you have this guy just
attending, like obviously a Christian university, which we attended, just getting all this exposure
in these detention facilities and like just coming out of that, like he's, you could see the trauma
that is being faced. Why I'm talking and mentioning that story is the fact that obviously
felons and people that are convicted, depending on whatever the crime may be, you're still
in a facility that can end up like bringing like emotional damage, whether you're inside there
as well. Yeah. And then the last thing you want is coming out and then figuring out, hey, listen,
this is like a damping image on your record, you pretty much doom.
Because first of all, getting a job when you have a felony or whatever it may be,
it's hot enough, but now trying to not even get your voices heard.
I wonder why that even started.
Do you know the historical context behind why that happened?
You know, I don't.
I wish I did.
That's such a great question.
But yeah, you know, it is extremely debilitating to leave prison.
And one, to have to start your life all over.
Especially, I mean, two or three weeks is a long period of time.
even for the individuals who've been there for months or years,
they have to readjust.
There's certain things that they're going to have to get back.
They're going to have to find a place to live and a job.
And like you said,
it's really hard to find a job when you have a felony.
And yeah, so that's one of my goals is really,
and I've seen it in my practice already,
is once I restore these civil liberties,
I do see a sense of hope in their eye again.
And that's kind of the main goal here is,
again, we're not trying to,
I don't think our judicial system should be punishing you for the rest of your life.
I will do the best I can to help you get these rights restored.
And hopefully you're able to get to that next step that you need to go to make your life more successful.
And I know that we did stress a lot on the DUI.
What other ones in your practice have you guys helped people like get their rights restored?
If you don't mind sharing.
Yeah, I've I've done manslaughter before.
Vehicular manslaughter.
And I've done.
What is that?
So vehicular manslaughter, this man in particular, he unfortunately went hunting.
It was about 1998.
He went hunting up in Flagstaff, him and his buddy, his best friend actually.
They went to a bar and Flagstaff before they got to their hunting post.
And they were driving back from Flagstaff to the hunting post.
And he unfortunately, the driver took a too harsh of a turn, landed in a tree,
and it instantly killed his best friend.
Yeah.
Spent eight years in prison.
But I was able to get him his civil rights and his gun rights.
rights back so now he can go hunting with his son. And you see it's already stuff like that.
That's what I was talking about like no way did it have any intention to try and kill his friend.
No. I'm glad you explained that because sometimes we hear the term manslaughter. Sorry,
continue. Yeah. No, no. And I was just going to say, in fact, the family was totally against the
prosecution, knew that it was a mistake on his part that he never would have actually intentionally
killed their son. And so yeah, that story still gives me chills. But yeah, I mean, it's a mistake.
And I do agree that the heinous crimes that we talked about, they should not have their rights restored.
Killing people intentionally is obviously very gruesome and horrible.
But for the individuals who have this DUI or have the vehicular manslaughter charges, I feel so deeply for them.
Because it was a mistake when they were super young.
And I know that they did not intentionally mean to do that.
And of course, like, that's what I was kind of like referring to as well earlier on is the fact that can you imagine the traumatic experience that he already faced, like one?
of your best friends and you are responsible for this as a driver. It was not intended. And then
like it's already like it's going to be a depressing state. It's going to be a place where they're
going to be just feeling that emotional distress, you know? And I think that's a little crazy.
And then what's the process? How long is it for them to get that when it starts?
Well, the court system is always very long. It's really up to them. I would say just estimate between
90 to 120 days is usually the rough period of time. That's better.
than being, thinking that forever.
Right, right.
Yeah, because a lot of people don't realize, too,
that this is something that they can do.
That's one of my biggest goals, too, is education,
is getting felons to understand that this is something that they can do.
I often talk to felons through the community,
and especially when I worked at the U.S. Attorney's Office,
and they had no idea that this was possible for them.
So that's about going to be my next question.
Do you work with law firms, attorney's office,
and stuff like it in terms of outsourcing?
because I think sometimes in cases like law firms I've noticed,
they can end up like delegating other cases that they don't want to take and stuff.
Yes.
Is that very common in your...
Well, I just opened.
It is my goal, but I just opened.
So not yet.
That's exciting.
Yeah, yeah.
Because I agree.
A lawyer really view this as paralegal work, which is great.
Because it definitely is you don't necessarily need a lawyer to help you through this.
This is very much just paper pushing.
and getting you to fill out all the forms correctly.
Because that's one of the biggest mistakes, too, that felons have,
is they don't fill out all the paperwork and they don't do it correctly,
so then it gets rejected.
But yes, that is my goal to work with defense firms to outsource this type of work.
And then obviously primarily the state of Arizona.
Yes.
Would there be cases? Sorry, continue.
No, no, no.
I was just going to say, although other states have adopted the same model,
so I have helped people, like in the state of Washington and Minnesota, too.
I was about to say, when you say that I've noticed sometimes with law firms they end up,
or not necessarily partnering, but keeping tabs of a hay list and try and help this person do the same thing.
Is that your plan as well in the long term to try and do that across many states?
Yes.
And then Trump, too, is getting ready to reintroduce felons being able to get their felony rights,
or excuse me, felons to get their firearm rights back to at the federal level,
which hasn't been done since 1992, thanks to Chuck Schumer.
But yes, I want to be able to do that too.
You're a big Chuck Schumer fan?
No.
I'm not a big fan of...
He was called crying Chuck by Trump.
He's got a name for everyone.
I'm not a big fan.
I don't...
There is cases with the Supreme Court
that we really shouldn't even be legally allowed
to take firearm weapons away.
So I just did not agree with this 922G stuff.
So you're a big Second Amendment kind of...
Yes.
Huge gun.
rights, advocates. I think that this is something that we as Americans are entitled to per the
Constitution and our Second Amendment rights. So I don't agree that we should be taking this away
from people unless they're mentally ill or they have committed felonies with weapons in the past.
And it's hard to obviously track it down because obviously me, I'm right now permanent resident of
the United States and learning the historical context behind it and like the American Revolution,
Second Amendment being in place to try and ensure that the government cannot be like a tyranny
and try and like overthrow its people as well like that.
So historically everything kind of like makes sense.
And also, obviously I told you earlier on, my father-in-law had like multiple guns as well.
So recreational activity and all that kind of thing.
And also in situations where I want someone that I care and love about to be able to defend
themselves in case I may not be there as well.
So there's a lot of reasons behind it.
At the same time,
there probably needs to be a bit more like control
to make sure the right people have the guns.
Like, what are you saying in situations like that?
I don't want to go off topic with that,
but I know you're passionate about her.
So I had to try and let you, you know,
I agree with a lot of stuff,
but I also understand why the other side
is getting super crazy,
but I don't want like extreme stuff happening.
I think everything happens in order.
What's your opinion on that?
Oh, man.
That's such a loaded question.
You know, I truly agree with our constitution
that it is our everyone's right to bear arms if you're a united states citizen um i agree like i said
earlier that if you're mentally incapacitated or you are a dangerous individual because you've
committed crimes in the past that you shouldn't have it but um i think generally yeah everyone
should be able to own a weapon own a gun i think it's imperative in fact as a part of our constitution
all righty all right and now just go more into this um um
Where do you see you, your, I know you just thought it right now, but I can see the ambition
and the excitement and you're knowledgeable in the, in the, in the, in the, in the, in the spirit.
Where do you see yourself going in the next five years with this?
Yeah, so I am trying to get into law school for next year, and I want to take this to the next level,
still be able to provide affordable services for individuals who want to have their gun rights
back, but just really advocating at a policy level to make sure that this happens.
So I talked earlier about the Supreme Court case.
I really want to see.
where that goes and be a part of that momentum as we continue to go with this administration.
Just promise me don't go intern by Pearson Spector Lit.
Such a good show.
Really inaccurate about everything, but it's a really good show.
No, the reason I say, my dad, my dad's an attorney back at home.
Oh, very nice.
He's been practicing for over 20 years.
So he did, he got his own law firm as well, doing super well.
But he does, law in the South Africa is very different to law in the United States, obviously.
We don't like, no jury and stuff.
Oh, no jury, wow.
No, no jury.
Wow.
A judge.
So we remember we had that famous case in 2010 with Oscar Pistorius, the one with like no.
Yes.
Yes.
So a judge decides like, yeah.
And so it was a criminal case.
Also a very, very beautiful lady that was one of our top models in my country, blonde, gorgeous girl, that he ended up like.
shooting, thinking it was an intruder.
So he says,
I'm not going to talk about what I believe.
But that's a story for another day.
But obviously, you got a five-year imprisonment.
But that was it.
And that obviously gave cave shockwaves.
But our law system is so different there.
Whereas I like both.
I like both.
I like the whole trial and jury and there
because I feel like you're allowing people
rather than one person to decide someone's face.
But at the same time, what if they can be very not okay and very biased?
We've seen a lot of biased cases, OJ Simpson, all the, many different stuff, you know what I'm saying?
But I decided to share that.
So would you go to undergrad?
Where did you go undergrad?
I went to ASU.
I'm hoping to be a double alum, too.
You want to try and do law school yet?
Yeah, yep.
I love, you know, I've lived in all different kinds of states.
I've lived here, Kansas, D.C., Washington, Oregon.
I've lived everywhere.
I'm the same way.
Yeah.
And I enjoy that.
One of the great things about our country is that we can go to all these different places.
But Arizona really has my heart.
I have invested so much time and energy into this community that I really just want to stay here and continue to do that.
And there's so much potential with everything.
Like every time I come here, like I'll spend a few weeks and months here.
It's the most unique community.
I've traveled like 48, 40, no, no, no, like 45 states.
Oh, wow.
And yeah, but I've only lived in like, I think seven or eight because I did an internship
in New York, Wall Street.
Oh, nice.
Very nice.
Yeah.
I love, love New York.
I love, love New York.
I wish I could live there, honestly.
I really do.
Yeah, it's just, but it's just too much for me.
Too many people.
Yeah, no, the reason I liked it, first of all, I, growing up, I used to watch Gossip Girl.
I don't know if you're familiar with it.
I've actually never seen it.
As girly as I am, I've never seen that show.
I can't believe I told you that.
Okay.
But no, no, just always it said.
So even when I proposed to my wife, it was like, it was in New York.
It was the Empire State Building kind of thing as well.
Very cute.
But from being so traveled and all that, every time I come to Arizona, like even the gentleman
I brought down here, it was one of the biggest wholesalers as well. But the community, everyone is
willing to be able to express, learn, and grow with each other, which I've never experienced in any
single state. Yes. So I don't blame you when you say you want to stay in ASC, you want to, you
become like double alumni and all that, but it's just there's a unique community here. Yeah.
Yeah. And everyone's the same way. We all want to invest in each other. Even the other small business
owners that I've come in contact with so far my journey with pro-parallegal AZ.
I mean, everyone's just so uplifting and encouraging.
And I really do enjoy that.
And like you said, you don't really find that in many other places.
And then what's your, in terms of social media?
Like, what's the trajectory in terms of like marketing and branding?
Because this is a very, the nice thing is that it's not as saturated.
Like it's so like new because people aren't even aware of that.
Right.
It's always like a form of damnation.
Like I can't do anything.
I'm screwed.
Like what's your plan regarding that too?
Oh my gosh.
I don't have a plan.
As a millennial, you think I would be better with social media.
But there's just something about it that I just can't.
I just, I'm not a big poster.
I'm like a, what do they call it?
Like a ghost posting ghost.
I just kind of, you know.
Last post first of January 2016.
Yeah.
No, but thankfully, I have, I have some really good people and a good team behind that.
They're that are really trying to give me the best ideas and help me sit down and
and record stuff.
So I really appreciate that too.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
And so if you're going to become, if you're going to go to law school,
and end up like taking to the next step.
What's your goal?
And I'm trying to incorporate now with your legal background already that you currently have.
How are you going to bring the two together?
I think, again, like I said earlier, just really honing in on the gun right advocacy.
A lot of, like we've talked about, people are really pushing for reform.
I don't believe in reform.
I don't believe reform is necessary.
And so I really want to use my law degree to be able to kind of like stand up for what I believe in
know what I think the Constitution and how I interpret it, as well as millions of other people,
the way they interpret it.
Have you applied already?
I have not.
I take the LSAT in August, actually.
So soon, I have everything ready to go.
I just need to take the test.
That's exciting.
Yeah, I'm really excited.
It's been a long time coming.
I've been doing this for 10 years.
Wow.
Yeah.
And obviously, it's a practice.
When you've been doing this for 10 years, we were doing this in Minnesota before then, right?
No, no.
I've always done it here.
Well, yeah, I've always, I would.
I've always done in Arizona.
But you opened your own firm.
Yes.
Recently.
Yeah.
Okay.
So that's why when you're telling all those stories I was previously when you were at the
U.S.
Attorney's Office or in D.C.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's a combined experience of being a paralegal from across the country.
And I noticed, I was telling my dad this actually the other day.
I think there are certain professions that I don't think people should ever worry about
AI and being an attorney is one of them.
Yes.
Can you add on that too?
No, you know, I have.
I've tried.
I've experimented with my friends who are lawyers already
and just asking chat TBT certain questions,
and they're always just like, that's not it.
And then we'd go back to legal research, and it's not right.
So chat chit is good, I think, at like...
Summarizing.
Yes, yes.
But definitely don't rely on it because laws change constantly.
And chat chit is a good researcher,
but it's not a good legal researcher,
which are two totally different things.
Legal research is like one of the top things taught
in law school and chat chibati has not gone to law school never will so it there's just no way
it can and do legal research like we can and also the critical thinking you know thinking on top of your
head trying to like um know your facts that you can try and like um i don't articulate to try and like
you know get the best case on area because it can give you everything in very in an automated way but
like like yes i can only take you so far but like you do need an actual person to represent you
on your behalf, you know. Law is a chess game and you really need to be two steps ahead of your
opponent in order to win and chat Chabit, just it can't guess one what your opponent is going to do
and two, how you should be able to structure your argument around it. Okay. And is your,
right now, it's not a non-profit, it's an actual practicing thing. So customers end up like,
is it like a retainer kind of thing? How does that work? It's a flat fee. I just, I charge everyone
the same rate no matter what. It's a flat fee and then, yeah, as soon as soon as we fill
the agreement, I'll get to work, and then within 90 to 120 days, you shove your rights back.
I'm glad. That's one thing I noticed as well when people give the time frame. It's like saying
within, in other words, it can come earlier, but you don't want people just calling nonstop, because
oh my gosh, it can give... Yes, when I used to work for private practice law firms,
clients would call a lot, and it is a lot. And I do enjoy talking with them because
it's not something lawyers typically do. That's another reason why you should hire a paralegal.
It's lawyers usually pawn off the calls to the paralegals. So you might as well just work with me
anyways.
I was about it's because paralegals actually know, you know it in depth.
It's not like one of those because think about paralegals, in a firm, being a firm,
the after you go back to the lawyers, and please correct me if I'm wrong, you know it way better
than I do.
But like they do the research.
They do like in depth and analysis and all the kind of stuff finding it out and then
going to go let the lawyer know by their, the lawyers chat GPT pretty much.
Yeah.
I would never, I would never work in private practice again because of the work, the amount of work
that I do compared to what the attorney does, and I don't mean to discredit attorneys at all.
I think attorneys are great. I love all my friends who are attorneys. But we just do a lot of work
as a paralegal for very low pay. So attorneys are charging clients for, I would say,
$3 to $500 an hour. They're charging paralegals at $125 an hour. Paralegals are the one doing
all the work by pay for the attorney. And have you ever thought about trying to even go the
path after you get your law degree in like business attorney,
attorney, all these different stuff, or you're just so passionate about this gun rights.
I really love criminal justice. It is so fascinating. My time at the U.S. Attorney's Office,
you know, I get to work at 8 and by 4 o'clock, I just, like, I couldn't believe that it was 4 o'clock
because I'm just having so much fun. It is fascinating to read about all of these different crimes
that people commit, how defense counsel is working in on their end, meeting with the criminals,
meeting with, you know, our agents, which I love and adore. It's just such a fascinating aspect of our
society that I don't think people get to really delve into.
What's the best part of your job?
At pro-parallegal a year when I was working for the federal government.
Both.
Oh, I think working for the federal government is working with the agents and hearing about
the things that they get to do and what they're investigating and how their mind is
operating as the investigation is ongoing.
I think that part was really cool.
It's very criminal-minds-esque, if you will.
At pro-parallegal a zee, I just love that I get to meet different people within my community.
So before I was working mostly with agents and with prosecutors,
but now I actually get to work with individuals who have already committed the crime
and kind of help them restore that life now that the prosecution is over.
And I think one thing you get to realize is that they're actual human beings
and whether it was a mistake or whether they did something like people just want a second chance.
And I think what you provide is hope.
And I think it's such an important thing knowing that, hey, listen,
you can go practice and gain the amount of guns you want to get.
get but more important to yours so you can vote you can do all these different stuff i think hope
is such an important thing because we just end up like giving people like in you know a level of
a damnation way like you can't progress you're just stuck in a certain thing and i think hope is
such an important thing eh wouldn't you agree no i agree and and you know i have met so many individuals
who have committed crimes who regret it and who are trying to do the best they possibly can to
provide food on the table to
start a family, to start their own businesses.
And again, I don't think
that one mistake should limit them from being able
to do those things. I couldn't agree more.
But for somebody out there that may be watching this,
let's say now they're out of jail.
And I know you said, like,
be an outstanding citizen doing the best part you can do.
What advice would you give somebody right now
that's just had their life shattered?
They can't even get a job.
What's the first step you think they can do right now
to try and get their life back in order?
I think just,
just have faith.
We have so many
misconceptions about the judicial
system, and I get it.
Wow, I cannot talk today.
The judicial system just convicted them,
sent them to prison, and I totally get it and makes them
have some serious
doubts about whether or not it's there to actually help
them, but I really
just want them to have hope that it does.
And that this avenue gives them that hope
that they are going to need, and they should definitely
use if they can,
to restart their life.
One past mistake does not define the rest of your life.
We all make mistakes.
They might think that their mistake
because it landed them in prison is more serious,
but I would tend to disagree.
There's people that do things all the time
and they're never convicted.
So, yeah, just have faith.
I know you spoke about DEI.
Can speeding fines prevent people from, like, voting and stuff?
Speeding fines, no.
Okay.
No.
Traffic violations are completely separate.
That's interesting.
But yeah, no.
No, no, are you sure?
Or maybe it's just a different state to Florida.
Because I know Florida, people that had speeding fines
had would pay off the fines that they had before they could vote.
Really?
I could be wrong.
Because I remember the case, it was in 2020.
Michael Bloomberg, I think, went down to Florida.
And they were just trying to help everyone, like, pay off their fines that they could try and vote because they couldn't vote.
Maybe it could be a thing.
I could be wrong.
Please don't quote me on that or any anyway.
But I think that was a situation.
Well, anything's possible.
I wouldn't put it past me.
Anything's possible, but that would be very surprising to me.
Yeah, like I said, I'm not 100% sure in that.
I just, I just remembered, like, them just spending millions of dollars
trying to pay people's fines off.
I don't know, because I'm like, I've never ever,
I don't even hear of that.
Maybe it was just eavesdropping it.
It could be 100% inaccurate, but I'll check it off to the podcast as well.
Yeah, I will too.
That's very interesting.
I hope.
Okay.
Thank you.
Do we get confirmation that's true?
Wow.
Yeah.
Florida is different.
Yeah.
Well, altogether, Florida is different.
But yeah.
So that's why I specialize in a certain states that I do.
Did it?
Wow.
Fines and fees of what, though?
Court fines and fees?
Yes.
So that's different than traffic.
Yeah.
That is a part of the requirements, too, to have your rights restored.
It's that all your restitution and court fees have to be paid.
Okay.
All right.
Maybe that's what the thing was.
Yeah.
I think that's probably what it was.
That makes much more sense.
sense. Traffic fines are different.
So what are court fines or court fees? What are those?
They're court ordered usually when you're sentenced of the fees that you have to pay.
Like at the U.S. Attorney's Office at the federal level, we'll have like a victim's fee.
This helps us be able to provide victims where certain services like flying them to here.
Like if they're not from the states, we need to fly them here.
Those kinds of things or court fees are like if you file something, you never paid it.
Those types of situations.
Or if you have like.
I don't know.
There's fees associated with sentences too.
So if you serve like 10 years,
you might be sentenced to like to pay restitution of like five grand.
I don't know.
It just depends.
Also depends on your crime too.
No, 10 years of paralegal,
you definitely,
you know,
I've noticed,
even when my dad had a paralegal as well,
you end up just,
it becomes second nature in just like,
even resolving stuff super quickly
because the amount of stuff that I just given to you,
I've seen files dropped off on a desk,
I've seen so many different stuff.
And that was even like pre-AI summarize.
That was true.
We can't use that AI in court either.
So, yeah.
I love that.
But it's pretty much, gosh, I hate to say cut and dry.
But once you see one of a certain type of case, like manslaughter or murder or second
degree rape or whatever it is, you kind of understand like, okay, this is what I, in like
discovery and stuff, this is what I should be asking for.
it's kind of and you have such a great relationship to the federal public defender's office that you just you know you know exactly what is what you need to get from the other side and to kind of get this case going so it's great and i also work with attorneys who loved teaching they were teaching me all the time i was constantly going to court with them constantly trying to learn i asked all the time why they're doing certain things and why they don't do others like it was just such a great learning experience and i am so thankful for the attorneys i got to work with that's amazing and with uh you provide obviously like
consulting in person, which makes it super, right?
Do they come to the office or is it like over the phone or how does it?
We do everything over the phone or over Zoom.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
You don't provide the in-person consulting?
No, I don't.
Just because I'm doing it, it's not brick and mortar yet.
So once I get to that place, I will.
But at this point, everything's over the phone or Zoom.
And really, we're just going over questions to make sure you're eligible.
That's really all we have to do.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
So you don't have to come in.
A lot of times, too, my clients are just super busy.
They're blue collar workers.
And so they just don't have the time to come up to where I'm at in Cape Creek to do it.
We had our tenant, a mastermind year.
One of the owners, Jason, he holds a mastermind year because because I was doing podcasts here,
but everyone inside, they're 90% of a blue collar.
And even coming to this thing, they have to put it in their schedule because they're
constantly always working.
Yes.
You know, it's such a demanding kind of thing.
Yeah.
Although I'm a little different.
I'm one of those, like, I'm an in-person person.
Are you?
Yeah, I've never ever done a podcast over Zoom.
I've had people even in England that I reached out to.
I had one guy from England that actually came to Vegas
from like the Grand Cardone 10x conference.
I'm like, perfect.
Let's sit down.
I have a nice Airbnb that ran it out in Vegas
and we had like a nice view of the waterfalls and stuff like it.
I was like, you know what?
You're here.
And I'm the same way like I come to A.Z, Miami, blah, blah, blah.
Because it's just for me, I don't know.
I zone out.
over Zoom and stuff.
Really?
I don't mind it.
I don't mind it.
I wasn't a big proponent of like Zoom meetings during COVID and stuff.
I understand the necessity for it.
But I'm kind of like you.
I like in person.
But I'm trying to cater towards the blue collar workers who are about 90% of my
clientele base.
So I'm just trying to help them get all the information I can from them.
They'll hang up on the phone.
Then I just finish up everything that I need to get it over to the court.
And I think that's what people need to understand is the fact that you're trying to see
if you can get pre-qualified or if it actually would work and make sense for you in your scenario
as well. Because that's why it's one of those things. There's no need for you to drive two,
three hours. If it's just like a few questions, like 30 minutes or an hour of Zoom.
So it's convenient. So that's beautiful technology is convenience. So yeah. And I think in that
situation, I would do the same thing. I was just saying like, gosh, I sometimes I don't know,
I get all embarrassed. I'm like, can I just see you in person? I committed this crime.
I may have taken, I don't know, bread from like, I don't know, the groceries.
store and I prefer just saying in front of you.
I don't know. You just feel like you record it.
I don't know. That's just personally me.
My mom is always just like,
should you be meeting with felons in person?
And I'm like, no, they're regular
people, mom. They're totally
fine. I feel safe
with every person I've ever met.
They're really, there's just the most
thankful people and I love that. And again,
blue collar workers who are probably
cleaning your pool or building your roof
or helping you, you know, change your
tire off the side of the road. It's those type of
people that I'm trying to help.
Blue collar workers,
the heartbeat of America.
Oh, yes, especially in his heat.
Oh, my gosh, I could not do what they do.
120 degrees.
And, like, it's just do the same thing, like, every day.
And they do it with a smile on their face again.
You know what I'm saying?
So it's about, like, just people that just embrace it, you know.
So, yeah, no, everyone deserves a voice to be heard.
And I think sometimes things can be a little unfair, where it can be a little harsh
circumstance is obviously a little bit more different.
But the fact that people, this people representing and allowing,
and, you know, a veteran started and owned is such a big thing
because veterans do so much as well, like just standing in the front lines
and just providing whether it be service or combat,
doesn't matter, you're still serving your country.
Yeah, I agree with that.
Awesome stuff.
What are the things you want to share and talk about as well
as we conclude because I only have like two, three more questions?
I think we've got it all.
I just really want to emphasize that this isn't available to anyone,
convicted of a felony in this state.
And I really truly do hope that they get that the, excuse me,
I really truly hope that they get what they need.
Because like I said, you know, one mistake should not define your entire future.
I love that so much.
So yeah, we have Mrs. Harvey Spectre here as well.
So I hope you prepared.
What was Megan Markle's name?
I forgot her name.
I know Mike Ross and.
Oh, my gosh.
Rachel.
Yes, Rachel.
That's very.
Zane.
So yeah, no.
Now, I'm grateful.
These are my favorite kinds of podcasts where it's just straight conversation.
It's not like a rehearsed like where do you see yourself in the news?
I love conversations.
And I'm grateful you came in the studio as well.
If I always ask people, this is especially as we approach to conclude as well, because it's called the coat winning insights you need today to seize the world tomorrow.
If you were to define just the term winning, what does it mean for Danielle?
Oh, gosh, that's a great question.
I think winning is just any time that I am happy.
I want, that's one of the biggest reasons why I started my own business was because I just wanted to be happy.
And I wasn't finding that, you know, busting my butt day in and day out for somebody else.
I really wanted to work for myself and work with the vision that I have.
been ever since I've started, I've been happy.
I've interviewed over 90 people, even though I only have 40 episodes, and that was my
definition as well.
And so that's the best answer that I've gone.
And I'm not saying the answer that they gave great.
Everyone has given great answers.
Everyone is kind of elaborated and gave like their mantra and their motto, their for life
and all that.
But I think like at the end of the day, like with so much of heartache, sadness, depression,
that we all like experienced.
Like if you wake up every single day,
you're like, listen, I'm making a difference in this world.
I'm interviewing an amazing paralegal right now.
It's changing the world on my like time that I decided to have.
That is winning.
Thank you so much.
Daniel, if you could let our viewers know where they could get a hold of you,
website, if you have like a office number or whatever,
if you can let them know where to get a hold of you as well,
if they want to try and like reach out and try and find out a bit more about what you do.
Yeah, absolutely.
If you are a felon trying to restore your civil rights
and your firearm rights.
Please reach out to me at ProPeralegal AZ on social media.
You can also go to pro paralegalazc.com.
The link will also be in the description section
for both and all our platforms as well.
So if you want to know what she said,
it's going to be right in the description section
to just click the link below as well.
The coat-winning insights you need today
to seize the world tomorrow.
The amazing Danielle came in the studio.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much for having me.
