Michael Ralph Bruggeman

I am a civil lawyer, hired Mike for family member. Good results at a reasonable price. I have seen him in court. PROS: Good, smart, criminal lawyer, well-liked by judges and prosecutors, which is important since 95% of cases are plea bargained at some point. You may be innocent, but after 6 month...s of being bullied by prosecutors you may be glad when Mike negotiates you summary probation for misdemeanor disturbing the peace instead of rolling the dice on an assault charge and years in prison. That's not his fault, the system sucks, innocent people plead guilty all the time to minor charges to avoid the cost of trial and the risk of prison. FEES: Criminal lawyers are often stiffed for fees, so they ALL are insistent about payment up front, or else they go broke. Mike's fees are competitive, but all successful criminal lawyers insist on payment up front. CALLBACK: Clients get very frustrated when their lawyer doesn't call them back. But good lawyers spend their time in court, and they don't have time to answer your phone calls asking a million questions two weeks before YOUR court date. When a lawyer is in court defending you from 10 years in prison, you want him 100% focused on your case. While he is fighting for your life he may have 200 messages from other clients on his desk or answering machine. When it us YOUR turn in court, do you want Mike to take time off from fighting for your life to answer non-urgent questions from other clients? CONS: Mike is a sole practitioner, not a huge law firm. If you have a huge complicated case, or you want someone to talk to, hire a big law firm BY THE HOUR and they will be happy to talk to you all day long for $500 an hour, paid in advance. Mike knows the law, knows the prosecutors and judges, and is there for you when it counts, when you are going to trial or negotiating a plea.

Mike Bruggeman is a lawyer whose main focus is payment.  He will act, engage the client and work hard to get his money.  Once paid he becomes unresponsive, passive and it can even be characterizes as ambivalent.  One item that Bruggeman does do well is spend the funds he is given.  During our pre...-trial preparation he went on more vacations than 5 families combined.  During our year interaction up to and during the trial, Bruggeman continued to ignore the wishes and directions of the family, while never actually conveying the reasoning of "his" defense to anyone except himself.  Even his own paid investigator could not understand the rational of the defense or support its execution.  To be clear the case was framed as a 2nd degree murder trial, tried as such, but resulted due to his "bumbling" with 1st degree w/life.  Don't hire unless your looking to ensure failure and imprisonment.