Reviews

Michael helped our family with my Husbands DUI case. Michael was compassionate and concerned, he kept us informed and was prompt to answer when we called or returned it quickly if he missed our call. He has a great team so we were taken care of on every level. My husband was facing 4 months in jail over his DUI (3rd one in 8 yrs) but through Michael fighting on our behalf from the dui hearing to the criminal hearing he was able to secure a very fair sentence of weekends only. He was persistence got a change of judge and really came through for us! My family thank God for Michaels hard work! Best lawyer we could have asked for!

Can't begin to describe how helpful and attentive the Kavinoky Law Firm was; wonderful people and exceptional service.

I hired (and fired) the Kavinoky Law Firm for a DUI case (.09 BAC). I had a different lawyer (who was great) assigned to me initially. When she left the firm, Michael Meehan was assigned my case. The other lawyer had been extremely good about keeping in contact with me and keeping me up to date as we continued the APS Hearing and court dates multiple times while we waited for discovery. I simply wasn't paying attention to my court/APS dates, and I wasn't required to appear. My next hearing/court dates were over a month away when Michael Meehan took over. Michael Meehan did not contact me once before my next court or APS dates. He also did not contact me after they had passed. Two weeks after my APS hearing, I realized it had already gone by, and I had not gotten a letter from the firm. I began trying to call Mr. Meehan. I called the Driver Safety Office and they told me the APS Hearing had been lost and my license would be suspended the following week. Finally three days later, I got Mr. Meehan on the phone. He told me that the suspension couldn't have been decided that quickly, because he was incorrect about the date of the APS hearing. I got my letter the next day. He did not subpoena the officer, he did not attend the meeting in person, and he did not discuss with me calling an expert as I had discussed with the previous attorney. He lost the hearing by not doing due diligence on the case other than briefly reading my file, and didn't bother to contact me before or after the hearing. Following this, it was on multiple occasions difficult to get in touch with him regarding options for the Court portion of the DUI. He was unresponsive, but I did speak to him one other time, where we discussed the next date. He also gave me bad advice on the requirements for a restricted license (said I didn't need to be enrolled in a program and that the restriction would not extend the date before I could get my full license) and I wasted half a day at the DMV. On the date he told me I had court, I tried to call and email him to discuss it. No response. Again the following week I called twice and emailed once. No response. Finally two weeks after the court date I emailed someone else at the firm to see if I could find out about my case and expressed that I couldn't get my attorney to contact me. The next day I had a reply from Mr. Meehan indicating that he had tried to contact me and was awaiting decision on whether or not to take an offer from the DA, attaching his "previous letter" that was blatantly and poorly designed to look like it had been sent previously. I did finally get him on the phone and he apologized for being uncommunicative. At this point skeptical about his even attending the APS hearing, I went to the Driver Safety Office to get records. Mr. Meehan had told me it wasn't worth appealing the decision. It turns out that the case was so poorly handled by the DMV Hearing Officer that after a review the branch manager of the Driver Safety Office ended my suspension early, even though Mr. Meehan had said it wasn't worth trying. I decided between the lack of communication and lack of zealous representation to terminate my relationship with the firm before conclusion of the court case and request a refund. After several back and forths with the firm, I was offered $0 refund due to an accounting of work they provided. The accounting of work was falsified in multiple places. I told them some of the items that were fabricated and that I had records, and they provided a "revised accounting of work," which they are still offering no refund. This attorney failed to update his client on significant developments in his client's legal affairs, attempted to deceive his client and firm about his lack of communication and even provided a falsified accounting of work. I would recommend against him.

I hired Michael and the Kavinoky Law Firm to assist me with my case. He was very well informed, and did a great job fighting for me throughout the process. I would highly recommend him to anyone who needs a criminal defense attorney in Northern California.