Michael L. Steinberg's Law Practice

08/17/2026

I give thanks to take the powerful relatedness to the Creator forward. Today's Monday has already been a success. I am representing a woman on an assault with intent to murder case. The district court judge already erred in not permitting me to see the contact information of the eyewitnesses, despite direct case law. In addition, the prosecuting attorney shared some very negative evidence against the complainant. Better, the bond was reduced, based on my advocacy, from 100k case surety to 100K 10 percent with conditions My client has zero law enforcement contact history I think this case will resolve favorably for my client

In a second case, as I have written about before on a piece about prosecuting the patently mentally ill, the district court judge dismissed an arson case, that had been ongoing for several months. My client was incompetent at the time of court hearing and it took a while to restore him to competency. . My client who was under the effects of his untreated schizophrenia , made damaging statements . The Court deemed his statements unreliable (I briefed the same) Frankly what he said, did not line up to the physical evidence of the case. The Court found that the government, through its fire investigator, presented no credible evidence that the fire was intentional.

All before 1030 on a Monday, after being off for a week.

While this could be categorized as shameless self promotion, I think it is necessary for the public to have confidence in the legal system My colleagues are having successes daily. By the way, the AWIM case is MIDC/IDSO appointed. An entity independent from the Court system In essence a public defender case. My advocacy does not change whether it is a private or publicly funded cases. In fact of the over 50 capital cases I have had, all but two, Were assigned I am very proud to have been part of the reforms made to in the indigent defense system. I had great shareholders in the process.

Many thanks . . .

07/26/2026

As some of my colleagues and opponents know, I take a very dim view on the government prosecuting individuals, who are in the throes of a mental breakdown. Now upfront, I have been cautious to assert this defense because many of my fellow defense attorneys dilute it by making the claim too often. Simply because someone has mental illness, does not mean they are in the throes of it when their alleged crime was committed

I am talking about it when the illness is active and obviously present. This calendar year alone, I now have three cases that have either resulted in minimal impact or dismissed outright. One was where my client was in the middle of a psychiatric episode and he allegedly spit on an EMT. Charged with assault. He ended up be admitted to the hospital That Case ended up with a minor misdemeanor that goes away after 6 months. The anguish of riding the case out for my client was crushing. I was not going to budge. We prevailed.

The second case was my client was actually in the psych unit but unstable. He was having religious delusions. In this state of mind, he supposedly damaged a water pipe in the ceiling, by out of no where (unprovoked) leaping up in the air and pulling a pipe down. The client ended up with a 10 day involuntary commit. The case was ultimately dismissed on a witness issue, but I was confident I could prevail in trial.

The third one was resolved with an offer on Friday. It is set for jury trial. My client has in the LEIN system, an order adjudicating him legally incapitated. His crime was allegedly assaulting a hospital worker. He, too, ended up with a 10 day involuntary stay. He is offered an excessive noise ticket. I had berated the prosecutor on the record for his failure to do the right think. I reminded him of our State Supreme Court's rule of ethics imposed on prosecutors to seek justice. Well finally justice is served.

I am hard pressed to understand how the government could prosecute in these. cases. . The individuals allegedly harmed or damaged property,respectfully assume the risk. It is part of the job These clients have to needlessly endure the heavy weight of being prosecuted. The anguish is real. Now some may say, they should be medicated. Sure. The problem is meds change. Some fail. And the medical system is ill equipped to help these folks.

I have dedicated my career for fighting for the mentally ill accused of crimes. Pressure, however, must be placed on those who authorize these charges.

Happy Sunday

Michael L "Miko" Steinberg Esq.

07/01/2026

35 Years ago today, I formally opened my law offices. I was young and full of vim and vigor. While my passion and world view has changed (I am less aggressive, arrogant and not all cops are pricks), some things remain true. On a day to day basis, I get to follow my dream. I get to aggressively keep the government in place and get to touch people is ways that no other can. I proudly wear the title of Attorney and Counselor and make every client human. I am a combination of passion and compassion As many will attest, my clients have unfettered access to me and I make sure to come at them with love and compassion. Years before becoming a lawyer, I decided to approach things holistically That meant not only attacking the problem, but getting into the essence of things, so that we could, together, create means to ameliorate the issues for the future That is where my spiritual center has come into play. I want to close by giving thanks to all the clients, friends, family and colleagues who have shared this road with me. Without your belief, love and support of me, none of this would have happened. I still, almost every day, say I cannot believe I get paid to do a job I love so much

Thank you

Michael L. "Miko" Steinberg

06/20/2026

Fellow Lawyers and also the public. You need to be weary of AI. I use it to amass data or lead me in a direction , but WILL NOT use it for legal research or brief writing. Call me old school, but I worked my way through law school, as a clerk. Including a research assistant (basically a brief writer with supervision My case on appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court was the crim law written essay question for my winter 1990 Bar Exam) for the State Appellate Defender Office. I do my own research with use of electronic tools to get me to the case law. I still cut and paste the binding holding of the case researched to create briefs. Proud to say some of my briefs in the trial court became the basis of appellate law As a long time member of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan I strongly encourage my fellow defenders to be leery of AI writing. You are bound to get it wrong and you will find yourself before the Attorney Grievance Commission

The court said Cromer's repeated citing of cases that did not exist resulted in considerable extra work for both defendants' attorneys and the judges.

05/12/2026

It is nice to get a boost in one's career every now and again. Yesterday in front of small class (I am thinking it was a high school senior elective course), a Circuit Judge introduced me as one of the best defense attorneys in the County.

Today, I got word from the administration that they will be dismissing a case. This is the right result I asked for this dismissal at the district court level The dismissal was denied there, after supervisory review. At the preliminary exam, the police witnesses were adamant about going forward, despite the true wrongdoer coming forward and admitting his crime. It was also denied at the Circuit courtroom level.

My dad Jerry, used to say "no was just another way to yes." Grateful to have remained tenacious and kept pushing. Justice is served and a young man gets to go on and have a productive lawyer.

Note this was a MIDC assigned case (there is no such thing as court appointed anymore). This quiets the voices of "You work for nothing/I'm gonna get me a paid lawyer" and "You work for them" Hmm truth be told, I served on CDAM's Committee Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan that provided input on the creation of the Michigan Indigent Defense System. It radically altered how services are provided to indigents. My entire 36 year career, has been devoted to public defense, despite the fact that I take on a few paying clients I make no distinction whether my cases are assigned or paid. I have said often my zealously advocacy does not change regardless of how the case came to me.

Thank you Creator and thank you colleagues who do this, sometimes thankless job, on a daily (weekends included) basis.

04/18/2026

Been very busy lately, including a full day of trial yesterday. Yea I love trial. Anyhow, a client left this wonderful 5 star review a few days ago

"Mr. Steinberg treated me like a person where other lawyers shrugged me off, promised to call me and forgot about me. Mr. Steinberg was available and answered my questions with care. He also did not waste time in his explanation or waste time in tackling my issues, he handled everything as fast as he could. Lawyers are expensive, this one is worth it. Do yourself a favor and just call Mr Steinberg, if you dont believe me then call around like I did. You will probably have the same experience that I did with every other lawyer leaving a sour feeling. Thank you so much for everything sir."

01/10/2026

Food for thought. Rob Mills asked me if I could defend this case. My believe I could. Many of us that try difficult cases, do an exercise called psychodrama. It is there, where we look out our biases, perceptions, etc and grasp them. Those who have trained with me, have heard me call this "own the ick" In a training in November, I got my colleague/student to get on his feet and walk with me discussing the things that were disturbing him in the case. A grandpa accused of sexually harming a grandchild. The event allegedly occurred years early.

I post this video (spare us the maelstrom it's getting trite)
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1L7U1Rk1eP/

In it we see Ross clearly to the side as Good's vehicle is in motion. I have seen that in another frame by frame video. However this evidence must be viewed against the Ross phone cam video. He clearly was at least startled and instinctively je**ed out of the way. That was his subjective perception. To defend Ross, if charged, given the milliseconds of reaction, his state of mind must be presented. I raised concern that his previous encounter with a vehicle striking him, is a hill that will have to be overcome. As I told rob yesterday, we would have to put ourselves into the shoes of the actor. Here are the agent firing the shot

As my colleague Gary Kennedy II, a seasoned capital defense lawyer that I admire immensely t
said, this man must be charged. There is enough evidence out there to charge him. It will then take the skill of a season.Defense attorney to present his defense to the jury. I tell every juror that I've ever selecte that I am not concerned with the guilt or innocence in the case. I tell any student lawyer that I've ever trained that if you're focused on the verdict, you're out of the game. My focus is to hone in on reasons to doubt. Plain and simple.

Many may use this video to judge Ross' actions. However, this is after the fact and it is not delving into what was going on at the time of the action.

Respectfully

Michael L. Steinberg P43481
Www.mikesteinberglaw.com

09/26/2025

Grateful for another 5 star review.

"Mike steinberg was very professional and straight to the point. He was kind, helpful and honest. He got my case dropped! Working with Mike was stress free and he always answered the phone day or night! Would highly recommend!"

I aim to please

08/19/2025

Check this out Google review has a new formatting process. Grateful for another 5 star review. If you are in trouble in Royal Oak/Berkley, my office is a half a block from the Courthouse. 300 East Fourth Street (248) 321-1801 cell/text 24/7

★★★★★ "Mr.Steinburg was very professional with tremendous amounts of knowledge. He offered a fair payment plan. I could always contact him if I had questions and concerns. Took his time to make sure I understood what my options were. His many years in law was a great advantage to my case. ...