Michael Joseph Deniro

Waste of money and time. In my experience, using ChatGPT would have been more helpful than hiring this gentleman. I found him poorly prepared and ineffective during the hearing. His articulation was weak, and he struggled to present his own documents. At one point, while trying to pull up a docume...nt, he had a New York Times article open containing the statement: “The Church—like most organizations—is too likely to see its first duty as protecting its institutional interests and its officials, and can’t be trusted to police itself.” Meaning, while he was there to defend me, he belived that I am the loser. At least, he made good amount of money. The hearing committee consisted of three university employees without legal training, yet his briefing relied heavily on Supreme Court rulings!!!! and legal terminology. In my view, he failed to tailor his argument to the actual audience. Overall, I felt poorly represented and did not believe the service justified the cost. Based on my experience, I would not recommend him.

Prior to being hired, he claimed he knew the system and has previously beaten the university's lawyer. He also claimed that by charging a flat fee rather than pro bono, he could focus on my needs as a client, which did not seem to make sense. Once hired, he charged a lot just to send an offer which t...he university immediately rejected. After that, he refused to do anything else, saying that it was beyond his duty. A complete waste of money. I recommend you search for any other lawyer; you're more likely better off.

I hired DeNiro because he seemed well-versed in the University of California system. He talked a good game of being the most competent lawyer in the state, and about his commitment to clients. In reality, he was disengaged throughout most of our working relationship. Eventually, it seemed that h...e used most of his knowledge to undermine me, earn a large income, and to prolong my case, rather than to earnestly listen and to defend me to create an appropriate path. His legal briefs, emails, and conversations were generally snarky and dismissive. Like other clients have stated, I did the heavy lifting and he didn’t seem to synthesize the situation (or if he did, he wasn’t proactive about it). DeNiro did his work at his kitchen table with his wife audibly lurking in the background. He played a lot of “mind games” to test me, and I couldn’t tell whether this was for his own amusement or to manage my case, because he was a terrible case manager. I had to seek therapy after working with him, eventually concluding that to him I was another “brick in the wall”-a meal ticket. After a while, it seemed that he wanted to send a message to the University that he didn’t agree with me but that he was stuck with me. By signaling that he was disengaging in my case, he was simply being a dutiful attorney who was stuck with a client. This would earn him “points” or “respect” or whatever you might call it with the opposing counsel, and he would do better in the future representing more clients in other cases against the University. After dropping DeNiro, I’ve worked with other attorneys who have been extremely helpful in managing my situation with the UC. With these attorneys, we’ve made a great deal of progress. In fact, they have indicated that I might actually have a competency case against DeNiro. Prospective clients beware: this guy knows what he’s doing to milk you for every dollar. He doesn’t uphold his duties to his clients. He doesn’t use his experience for his client’s best interest, and he doesn’t strategize to help his clients. He’s looking for his next meal. Referencing DeNiro’s quote from Bob Segar: “Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.”

He should not be allowed to be an attorney. He charged me many thousands of dollars and did not know the basic things he purported to be an expert in. Moreover, he did not even bother to look up basic laws. He admitted to not having read my documents that were the basis of the dispute we were working... on because he claimed he did not want to rack up costs. Racking up costs is exactly what he did. I sent him a total of two documents to read. The end product was a waste of time. He is a waste of time and money. He puts in minimal work and charges maximum money.

In my case, Mr. DeNiro was an ok "process lawyer" when it came to writing briefs and emails. He understands the University of California system and higher education in general. However, he didn't really seem to understand me as a client or my case (though I don't think it was due to a lack of tryin...g), so when it came to the time for a hearing, it seemed like he threw in the towel rather than to defend my best interests. This was unfortunate, because many attorneys shine during hearings. He also lied to me several times, while talking using strange parallels with Greek mythology, which I attribute to his classical training at Notre Dame. Unfortunately, it's ineffective for client relationships because I couldn't really relate to him or understand what he was doing most of the time. I wish that I had invested the time to find another attorney. Don't make the mistake of being lured in by his per-minute billing. I stayed with him way too long.