Leonard Manalo

Leo Manalo is a fantastic criminal attorney. He is extremely responsive and gave me his personal cell, replying right away to my calls, as well as texts. Leo is very forthright and realistic when it comes to setting client expectations of possible outcomes, but always communicated in a calm, sympathe...tic and reassuring demeanor that put me at ease in the face the most nerve-racking experience of my life. He was concise and clear about my options and the decisions I needed to make, explaining it all in simple, 'non-lawyer' terms and answering every question, regardless of how silly they seemed. Leo has a great relationship with prosecutors and court staff, which no doubt played a significant roll in facilitating and expediting what ended up being an easy negotiation of my case. We settled without having to go to trial, and with a much better outcome than I even expected. The cherry on top was when we were standing in the courthouse, ready to sign the paperwork reflecting the details we had negotiated with the prosecutor, which I was satisfied with, and he said to me, "You know, I don't want you to take this deal... I'm going to try one more thing..." He walked back into the courtroom and came out a few minutes later with an even lesser charge than we negotiated. Boom. That level of tenacity is impressive. That's the difference between a public defender, to whom you are simply a case number, and a skilled criminal attorney at the top of his game. There is no comparison. When you're faced with the prospect of putting your fate in someone else's hands, especially in a situation that has massive potential impact on your life going forward, Leo's demeanor, expertise, communication and thoroughness are invaluable. After court, he sent me an email summarizing everything, pertinent dates and my exact obligations going forward. Court documents can be confusing and unclear, and sometimes the clerk's handwriting can be difficult to read, so Leo completely 'idiot-proofed' for me. I highly recommend him and, if I ever need a criminal attorney again (god forbid), there is no other attorney I would call.

Leonard Manalo helped me with my DUI case in court and he did a good job of getting me a plea deal of getting it moved to a wet reckless with 2 years of informal probabtion a class on substance abuse, and got the fines with the court dropped from what would’ve been thousands of dollars to only roughl...y $235 he coordinated greatly with my place of work while coordinating the information he was giving them with me first and he communicated and acted well with my requests while also providing his own knowledge on the steps we should take in the court process. The only thing that was sort of an issue but didn’t really affect anything was the loss of communication after working hours and the loss of communication on the week ends was inconsistent but he did send information to a very quick and easy way.

We hired Leo to defend our son, who was facing a possible 3rd strike. He saw right through the prosecutor's weak case and told us our Son should be going to rehab not jail. He told us what he could do and would do. Our Son liked him right away and was happy we hired him. Leo not only got him on 5 yr.... probation but also a year in rehab. Thank you very much Leo your the best.

We needed legal advice for a DMV license suspension and DMV hearing after an accident. When choosing a law firm, we had an excellent first free talk/consultation with Attorney Leo Manalo over the phone. He demonstrated his knowledge speaking of the different possible outcomes and the importance of h...aving a lawyer represent us at the hearing. Leo served the police with subpoenas to provide copies of all evidence, which took several months. He had to postpone the DMV hearing a few times. He questioned the police officer, represented us in the hearing, and made our case to the DMV. The results from the hearing were excellent. It has been excellent experience with Leo and his office. We've had excellent communication & consultations over the phone and updates by text and email, and in person in his office. He has been professional, personable, and communicates well. We've also had good communications with the personnel in his office.