Defense.
You built something — a brand, a business, a name people know. Then a moment, a misunderstanding, or an old conviction puts it on the line. The case in front of the judge isn't the whole problem. The brand deal that goes quiet, the licensing board that opens an inquiry, the custody order that gets revisited — that's the rest of it. We defend both.
When the case isn't the whole problem.
For most defendants, a criminal case is about freedom and the record. For our clients, it's also about everything they've built. A retail-fraud charge isn't just a sentencing hearing — it's the gallery that stops returning calls. A domestic call isn't just an arraignment — it's the endorsement deal that quietly evaporates. An old OWI from a decade ago isn't ancient history — it's the line on a 1099 contract that says "representations and warranties," and the licensing application that asks for disclosure.
There's a distinction the system makes — quietly, but constantly — between someone who had a bad day and someone with a pattern. One is a moment. The other is read as character. The job of a good defense lawyer is to make sure the case in front of the judge gets framed as what it actually is, and that the version of you that walks out the courtroom is the version that gets to keep building.
We do the same motion-tested, prosecutor-tested defense any good Michigan criminal lawyer would. What's different is the rest of the conversation — the one about your contracts, your licensing, your custody, your reputation, and the long tail of consequences a generalist criminal lawyer doesn't always see.
Five buckets of defense work.
1. Active criminal defense
Misdemeanors and felonies across Michigan — OWI/OWVI/Super Drunk, domestic assault, retail fraud, simple and aggravated assault, weapons offenses, drug possession and distribution, fraud and white-collar matters, probation violations. Arraignment through trial. Pre-charge intervention when the timing allows. Honest assessment of plea, trial, or motion — the path that serves your interests, not the one that bills more.
2. Expungement & Michigan Clean Slate petitions
Michigan's Clean Slate laws (effective 2021) dramatically expanded who qualifies. Some convictions now expunge automatically. Others require a properly drafted and filed petition — with the right exhibits, character evidence, and timing. If an old conviction is affecting your employment, your licensing, your housing applications, or the next chapter of your career, we run a free eligibility review and file the petition if you qualify.
3. Driver's license restoration & DLAD hearings
Lose your license to repeat OWI and you've inherited a catch-22 — you can't drive to the job that pays the fines that get your license back. License restoration through the Michigan Secretary of State's Driver's License Appeal Division is its own administrative practice with its own rules of evidence. We prepare the substance-use evaluation, gather the supporting affidavits, and present the case to the hearing officer.
4. Child support contempt defense
Falling behind on support and facing a show-cause hearing creates one of the most punishing paradoxes in Michigan law: you can't earn the money from a jail cell, but the order says pay or be locked up. Most family lawyers don't litigate contempt; most criminal lawyers don't know the Friend of the Court mechanics. We do both. We defend the contempt motion, surface ability-to-pay defenses where they exist, and work toward a resolution that keeps you working — because that's the only resolution that pays anyone, including the child.
5. Pre-charge & target letter representation
An investigator called. A subpoena arrived. You got a target letter, or you're "just being asked some questions." This is the most consequential moment of any criminal matter — and the one most people handle wrong by not having a lawyer yet. Pre-charge representation is often where cases get killed quietly, before a single document hits the public docket. If you've been contacted, call before you respond. Anything you say without counsel becomes evidence; anything you say through counsel is privileged.
Courtroom hours + business fluency.
Before ELN built its creators-and-owners practice, ELN built its courtroom hours. Years of arraignments, motion calls, evidentiary hearings, preliminary exams, and plea negotiations across Michigan district and circuit courts. That experience didn't go away when the firm's brand-side practice grew up around it — it became the engine that powers it.
Here's the honest version of how criminal cases resolve: roughly 98% of them never see a jury. They get decided at the prosecutor's desk, in chambers, at the pretrial conference — through motion practice, negotiation, and the quiet math both sides do when the file gets read carefully. The lawyer's job at that table isn't theater or volume. It's reading the file, finding the leverage, weighing the collateral risks against the legal exposure, and pushing for the disposition that actually serves the rest of your life — not just the one that closes the docket fastest. Aggressive when aggression earns something. Patient when patience earns more. Always running the math from your side of the table — and that means thinking about your contracts, your licensing, and your reputation while we're thinking about the charge.
And we know something else — that for certain clients, the optimal legal outcome and the optimal life outcome are not the same outcome. We've represented clients who could have walked at trial and chose not to fight, because the trial itself — the spectacle, the news, the depositions read aloud, the cross-examination of the people closest to them — would have cost more than the conviction. We don't override that calculus. We respect it. The job is to lay out every door, walk through the math of each, and represent whichever one you choose with the same preparation. You are not "client so-and-so." You are the person whose call this actually is.
Criminal defense is not the niche of this firm. It's a foundation of it. And for the right client, in the right moment, it's the most important call you'll make.
Clients who called.
People ELN represented — telling it in their own words.
Shown with each client's written permission; identities limited at client request. Every case is different — past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
Defense FAQs.
No. The attorney-client relationship is privileged and confidential. Court filings become public, but the conversation between you and your lawyer — including the decision to hire one — does not. If discretion matters to your situation, say so on the first call and we'll structure intake and communications accordingly.
That's a legitimate calculation, and it's yours to make. We've represented clients who could have walked at trial and chose to resolve the case quietly because the trial itself — the press, the testimony, the people who would have been called — would have cost more than the conviction. We lay out every option honestly, including the ones that don't maximize the legal outcome, and represent whichever one you choose with the same preparation.
In most cases, yes. Bond conditions, travel restrictions, and the nature of the charge all matter, but the vast majority of defendants in Michigan continue working, traveling for business, and managing their companies while a case is pending. We'll walk through specifics at the consultation.
Possibly. Michigan's 2021 reforms made many misdemeanors and some felonies expungeable — some automatically, others by petition. Eligibility depends on the offense, time elapsed, total convictions on your record, and a few other factors. We run a free eligibility review and tell you straight whether to file.
Call us before the hearing. Show-cause contempt hearings move fast and the standard playbook — "I'll just explain to the judge what's going on" — doesn't work. We defend the contempt, raise ability-to-pay where applicable, and negotiate payment plans that keep you out of custody and earning.
It is the opposite of too early. Pre-charge representation is where cases get won quietly. If an investigator has contacted you, a grand jury subpoena arrived, or you received a target letter, call before you respond, sign anything, or attend a "voluntary" interview. Free consultation. 24-hour response.
Misdemeanors are typically quoted flat-fee. Felony cases are quoted by stage — pre-charge, arraignment through preliminary exam, and trial — so you always know what you're paying at each phase. Initial consultation is free. Payment plans available on most matters.
You have the right to remain silent and the right to counsel. Use both. Don't speak to investigators about an investigation without a lawyer present — even if you're "just answering questions" and even if you believe you have nothing to hide. Call us first.