I'm going to be doing the same, applying early. I was banned for 3 years gonna reapply after 2. Personally I wouldn't fork out for a solicitor for something that if you do enough research you can do yourself. My situation is very different to yours, my mother is mentally and physically disabled and on some some sort of vulnerable persons register and since I've been banned I can't spontaneously go and check on her myself so have to call for the police to attend to carry out welfare checks so it would save public resources if I get my licence back early. The bit about working with mental health patients, I would imagine your strongest bet would be if you were to actually be able to prove that you used to actually used to transport your patients as part of your job and better still if you could even get a job lined up. That's not to say that being able to drive to and from work wouldn't benefit the community but like price said the bit about your ability to see your daughter and having a good enough reason why you either cannot or it is very difficult for you to use public transport would probably also apply to your your work I.e in my case I suffer from ADHD with a symptom being sensory issues in relation dressing appropriately for the weather in the winter, I struggle with a summer jacket let alone a big winter one, in fact I don't even own a winter jacket which obviously makes public transport an issue. Im assuming your daughter is young, I would emphasise this in your letter to the court the fact that she is too young to travel alone and therefore compromises such as meeting her half way are not an option and that her mother/carer is unable to travel with her due to other commitments. You've got a bit of time to put it all together anyway. But in regards to a solicitor, there is so much help on here and such compassionate ppl who know what you're going through so no I definitely would bother