Michael Eric Kraut

As a physician it was so painful to be charged with DUI. My professional life was in danger. After spending a night in the jail I was hopeless and helpless. Michael Kraut, is the man of his words. He said he is very honest and he was. He said he could help me and he did. He is as competent and effici...ent as he says. He made the impossible happen and rejected all the charges before the court day, as if it never happened. When I re-applied for my driver license, I realized that DMV never got informed; they had no idea why I do not have my driver license. Medical Board also never got informed. I learned my lesson and I am back on my feet. Michael you are great and I owe you the rest of my professional life.

My nightmare began over 9 months ago. My husband and I had only been married one month and we got into an argument. I threw something in an attempt to distract him and it ended up hitting him below the eye. He went to the emergency room since it was Saturday and when they asked him what happened he... told them I accidentally hit him with something. Turns out, they are legally required to call the cops if you say a partner hit you and the cops are legally required to arrest you. I ended up getting arrested and spending several hours in jail and to make it worse, it was a felony charge! My husband had to pay $5k to bail me out. In my job, it is imperative that I have a clean record so this charge was threatening my ability to make a living. I knew I needed a lawyer but I really didn’t know how to choose one so I just went online and called a bunch. I ended up calling Mike’s number but he didn’t answer and I didn’t leave a message. A few minutes later he called me back and he asked me to do research on him and call him back. I did and that is when I learned of his previous role as a prosecutor for the DA and his impressive education. I called back and he understood right away how important this was for my job. I met with him that day and hired him right away. I read all the reviews here but I still wasn’t convinced that any lawyer could be that great. I sat in the courtroom and watched lawyers file in and they looked sloppy and used car salesman-y. Then my attorney walked in, smiling, looking polished, and he knew all the lawyers and the judge. He even cracked jokes with the judge so I thought I may be in good hands. At the first court date, they tried to get a restraining order against me and Michael was not accepting it. The prosecutor tried to get a lower level restraining order and Michael shot that down too. I learned early on, Michael would get his way and would not stop until he did. I didn’t receive a restraining order. All throughout my case Michael did stress to me to let him do his job and he will get me the best possible outcome. There were times I would email him and write him and tell him how scared I was and I learned he is not trying to hear all that. He needs to be left alone to do his job. He may not be your friend, but he is a damn good lawyer. Throughout the 9 months, he never once even considered pleading me out; he never even brought it up. It was either dismiss this or give me a diversion, that was it. And after 9 long months, that IS what happened. He got the prosecutor to agree that if I take 26 anger management classes and pay a fine, that they will drop the case completely. I spent my first 9 months of marriage in a nightmare, but Michael ended it for me. He fought for me, he represented me fairly and I CANNOT give him enough praise. After the case he came down to see my husband and he even got emotional seeing us embrace and celebrate the moment. He realized that we were 2 people that were in love and just got into a bad situation. If you need legal help, 100% call Michael Kraut.

In early December, my father was accused of indecent exposure by someone in the neighborhood. The detective pretty much said my father had to be guilty because he found other witnesses that have seen him walking around nude in the back yard of our house before. Apprently "innocent until proven guil...ty" doesn't apply. My father admitted to being in the backyard nude a few times (stupid I know) but in general it's not illegal since there are people sunbathing nude in their backyard. He was adamant that he did not expose himself to anyone though. Each time I spoke with the detective (once on the phone, once when he came to our house to question me and my 3 y.o. nephew), I became more confused about the charges and the supposed witness statements because they would change. Although the detective was cordial, I knew I couldn't trust the police especially when I asked him if we needed to hire a lawyer. He said "oh, you don't have to, but you can try using a public defender if you feel you need it". Yeah, no thanks. I can't trust my father's life and freedom to someone who's ill prepared due to overloaded cases (I've seen how they are when I served jury duty). Once I went online and did some research into what the consequences are for these kinds of sex crimes, I was terrified for my dad and my whole family. If he was found guilty, he could go to jail but what's worse is that he would have to be registered as a sex offender. That means he couldn't even spend time with his grandchildren and since we live near a school, he wouldn't be able to live at the home that he's been in for the last 30 years. With an internal panic that I can't even begin to describe, I started looking for lawyers to help and found the Avvo website. I met with Shoup Law Group first and another law group in Van Nuys before finding Mike. The Shoup lawyer seemed inexperienced and the other lawyer was semi-retired. Both attorneys said that we would have to wait until my dad was officially charged before we could do anything. I also contacted another attorney for a consultation but never received a call back so I was ready to give up and go with one of the ones I already interviewed when I decided to give Mike a quick call toward the late afternoon. He actually answered the phone himself and was open to meeting with me and my dad within the next hour so we hustled over. Having been an ex-DA, Mike has a lot of contacts and most importantly, he said the right time to take care of this was before the police/City Attorney charged my father with anything. So I hired him on the spot. Being close to Christmas and New Years, I didn't hear anything for what felt like forever so my holidays were completely ruined by constant worries and fears. Mike finally made contact with the detective and we recently went to a City Attorney hearing with him present where they told us they would not file charges but we had to keep a constant eye on my father. We had been doing that since December but stepped it up further since. This was the best outcome that we could hope for except now the whole neighborhood is going after him (again, he's presumed guilty already). I know for sure that at least one of the witnesses lied because of recent statements they made. I panicked and Mike reassured me that he handled it and he'll continue to handle it. But at this point, although he has helped us deactivate one bomb, I feel like there's another one about to explode. I hope he continues to help us in the meantime. If you want someone to handle your case before you get in more trouble, hire Mike. He's always reachable although his responses may be short and quick. He won't have time to hold your hand but he will be the one working on your case and not a junior attorney.

After an argument with my 94 year-old-father about taking his medications properly and his ability to drive safely, I was shocked to find myself arrested for elder abuse in the Bellflower area of California. I was trying to keep him from harming himself with his medications and others with his car ...and within minutes I’m stripped of my possessions and locked behind bars! Even though my family convinced him to drop the charges a few days later, the state refused to drop the case. I am a health professional with a state-issued license to protect, so I needed an experienced attorney quite familiar with elder abuse cases . My primary source of income was on the line. Even though the case seemed absurd to me initially, when the state refused to drop it, things got scary and even more stressful. I needed a good attorney. I researched elder abuse law and elder abuse attorneys and came across Michael Kraut’s firm. He definitely had the experience and his website was well organized and informative. Pick the wrong attorney, and I could lose my license or even go to jail because I just wanted to help and care for my own father! It was an awful feeling, probably the worst experience of my life. I called Mr. Kraut and he answered the call personally and he listened carefully to what I had to say. I could tell from his questions, comments, and understanding that he would do a good job. I met with Mr. Kraut and was impressed with the office, its location, and the way I was treated professionally. He understood the seriousness and the mechanics of the case. He worked out a fee based on my ability to pay and went to work. Since it was a misdemeanor case, Mr. Kraut appeared in court for me and had me call him after each court date for an update. He answered the phone personally. He returned any other call or email promptly. Mr. Kraut got my case dismissed. I chose the right attorney for the job. I’m able to continue to practice, and would recommend Mr. Kraut to anybody who is in need of an outstanding attorney.

In late 2010 my life was completely changed in one horrible instant. One night, while driving home, I was involved in a fatal car accident. I had been drinking earlier that night so when the police gave me a sobriety test, I blew over the limit. I was arrested and spent the night in a holding cell at... the local police station. For a person who had never been arrested before, that was pretty rough. At the time, I was unaware of the condition of the other driver, so as far as I knew, I would be charged with a DUI and that would be the end of it. The next morning some detectives questioned me and I was informed that the other driver had died. I remember feeling sick and absolutely devastated. It felt like a nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from. I spent the next day in LA County Jail with $100,000 bail and the charge of “gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated” filed against me. In the days/weeks after my release I felt totally hopeless and helpless. I asked everyone I knew what to do as far as legal defense. Those who worked in legal circles warned me not to go with a public defender, especially considering the severity of my charges. So my wife and I started looking for a criminal defense attorney. We met with several, and let me tell you, the process was not fun. I’m very much a person who goes with his gut feeling when it comes to people and every lawyer we met with made me feel uneasy. They all seemed so heartless, calculating, and money-hungry. Then while searching online, I stumbled onto Michael Kraut’s website. I liked the fact that he had experience as a prosecutor and that he specialized in DUI cases. I decided to give him a call, and to my surprise, he answered on his cell. I explained my charges to him and he seemed to genuinely care about my predicament We set up a time to meet in person to go over the details of the case and determine if he’d be able to help me or not. From the moment I met Mike in his office, I had a good feeling about him. As we discussed the accident, I could tell that he really cared about my mental state and well-being. Now, one thing I really appreciate about Mike is that he doesn’t sugar coat things. He explained that day that should we decide to hire him, the process would be long and trying. It would be months and possibly more than a year before we would have any type of absolution. He also told me that I needed to be prepared for the likelihood that I would be spending some years in prison, and it was just a matter of how many. He assured me that he would do his very best to achieve the best possible outcome.