Experience and posture with San Francisco variance hearing

[Harriet Ellicott]

I applied for a unit legalization for a building I just bought and six months later I'm about to have a variance hearing for things that were done 120 to 30 years ago. I guess they will decide whether I need to take them out or not. The architect and contractor think the work is good enough in terms of quality but there was a dormer added without permit and some encroachment past the required open yard that was done before there was a law about it over 100 years ago. 

Does anyone know if the variance person will be relatively aggressive about rolling everything back or will they be pretty understanding? Should I get a lawyer to argue with them or is it pretty casual?