Michael L. Fell

Career Highlights

• Firm Founder and Managing Attorney: Opened the Law Office of Michael L. Fell, A Professional Corporation, in 2009. The Irvine firm has developed into a multi-attorney practice providing criminal defense, crime-victims’ rights representation, and family-law services.
• State Bar-Certified Criminal Law Specialist: Holds an official criminal-law specialization from the State Bar of California, a credential requiring substantial experience, specialized education, peer review, and successful completion of a separate written examination.
• Family-Law Practice Leadership: Fell’s firm maintains a dedicated family-law practice led by Rita Liu and Denise Vatani Heinz, both of whom are identified as State Bar-Certified Family Law Specialists.
• Former Orange County Senior Deputy District Attorney: Spent more than 18 years as an Orange County prosecutor, handling hundreds of cases involving murder, arson, organized crime, child molestation, gang offenses, hate crimes, and juvenile matters.
• Former Supervising Juvenile Prosecutor: Served as a supervising prosecutor in the Orange County Juvenile Court, adding substantial experience with cases involving minors and the separate procedures governing juvenile proceedings.
• Former Hate-Crime Prosecutor: Ran the Orange County District Attorney’s hate-crime unit and helped address cases in which establishing the accused person’s intent was essential to proving the offense.
• Former Probation Officer: Worked for the Santa Barbara County Probation Department before attending law school, providing early experience with the criminal-justice system before he became an attorney.
• Civil Trial Experience: After leaving the District Attorney’s Office, served as senior California trial counsel for a civil firm, where he negotiated and litigated multimillion-dollar civil matters before opening his own practice.
• Crime-Victims’ Rights Advocate: Leads Justice 4 Crime Victims, a practice that helps victims participate in criminal proceedings and enforce the protections provided by California’s constitutional Victims’ Bill of Rights, commonly known as Marsy’s Law.
• National Pro Bono Recognition: Received the National Crime Victim Law Institute’s 2012 Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award for his work protecting, enforcing, and advancing crime victims’ rights.
• Former Prosecutorial Association President: Served as president of the Association of Orange County Deputy District Attorneys from 1995 through 1996 after previously serving as its treasurer.
• Former Orange County Bar Association Director: Served on the Orange County Bar Association’s board of directors and participated in its governance, judicial-evaluation, legislative, and youth legal-education work.
• Community Legal Educator: Coached and judged high-school mock-trial competitions, taught programs involving juvenile law and hate crimes, and lectured on crime victims’ rights and the criminal-justice system, including at the State Bar of California’s annual convention.
• Repeated Professional Recognition: Selected to Southern California Super Lawyers from 2015 through 2019 and again in 2022 and 2023. He was also included among the National Trial Lawyers Top 100.
• Exceptional Client Feedback: Maintains a 5.0-star Google rating based on 39 reviews.

Proven Experience

• High-Profile Victims’ Representation: Has represented victims and families connected to major cases, including the murder of Chelsea King and the fatal impaired-driving collision that killed Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, Courtney Stewart, and Henry Pearson and seriously injured Jon Wilhite.
• Victims’ Courtroom Rights Enforced in the Nick Adenhart Case: Represented families affected by the fatal impaired-driving collision during the prosecution of Andrew Gallo. Acting for the victims, Fell opposed postponing the trial, moving it to another county, and allowing cameras in the courtroom. The postponement and change-of-venue requests were denied, and cameras were barred from the proceedings.
• Felony Criminal-Threat Charges Dismissed: Represented a business owner who was in custody with bail set at $100,000 on felony criminal-threat allegations. Every charge was dismissed.
• Felony Domestic-Violence Case Stopped Before Court: Represented a client arrested on a felony domestic-violence allegation. The matter was dropped before a criminal case reached court.
• Felony Prescription Case Prevented: Intervened with police on behalf of a client accused of forging a prescription, resulting in no criminal charges being filed.
• Second Felony Impaired-Driving Charge Reduced With No Jail: Represented a client accused of a second impaired-driving offense involving an accident. The felony was reduced to a misdemeanor, and the client served no jail time.
• $800,000 Felony Theft Case Resolved Without State Prison: Represented a client accused of felony theft involving $800,000 and obtained a resolution involving no state-prison sentence, with credit for time already served.