The defense attorney who used to make the arrests
Most criminal defense attorneys learned police procedure from a textbook. Michael Vincent wrote the arrest reports.
Before founding The Vincent Law Firm, P.C., Mr. Vincent served as a Sergeant with the Ypsilanti Police Department, where he personally administered hundreds of breathalyzer tests, supervised a federally funded drunk driving enforcement patrol, and arrested hundreds of drivers for operating while intoxicated. Since retiring from the department in August 1986, he has devoted his legal career to the other side of the courtroom — defending people accused of drunk driving and serious crimes throughout Southeast Michigan.
That career gives our clients something no other firm in Washtenaw County can offer: a defense attorney who knows exactly how an OWI case is built, because he built them. He knows how officers are trained to conduct a traffic stop, what a properly administered field sobriety test looks like, how breath-testing equipment must be calibrated and operated, and precisely where police work goes wrong. When it does, we find it — and we use it.
Downtown Ypsilanti. Six counties. Decades of trials.
The Vincent Law Firm, P.C. is a criminal defense firm located in downtown Ypsilanti, directly serving Washtenaw County and the surrounding counties of Wayne, Livingston, Monroe, Lenawee, and Jackson. For decades our practice has concentrated on intoxicated driving defense — OWI, DUI, DWI, and OUID — while also defending clients against the most serious charges Michigan law can bring, including open murder, criminal sexual conduct, domestic violence, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, drug offenses, and firearms charges.
Our attorneys and staff appear regularly in the district and circuit courts across this region. We know the judges, the prosecutors, the court staff, and how each courtroom actually runs — knowledge that shapes strategy from the very first hearing.
Aggressive. Individual. Thorough.
We do not run a plea mill. We practice an aggressive style of defense and treat every case as its own case. That means obtaining and reviewing all discovery — in-car and body-camera video, dispatch audio, breath and blood testing records, maintenance logs — verifying the lawfulness of every step the police took, and applying every tool at our disposal to get the best possible outcome for that client, whether that is a dismissal, a suppression of evidence, a reduction, or a victory at trial.
Our lead attorney administered the same tests and made the same arrests he now challenges in court.
Intoxicated driving defense is the core of our practice — not a sideline.
We appear regularly before the judges and prosecutors handling your case.
An after-hours phone line, because arrests don't happen during business hours.
Meet with an attorney, understand the process, and get a clear picture of your defense and fees before you commit.
Michael J. Vincent
Lead Attorney
- Retired Ypsilanti Police Department Sergeant (retired August 1986)
- Certified breathalyzer operator who personally administered hundreds of breath tests
- Supervised and ran a federally funded drunk driving enforcement patrol
- Recognized by multiple agencies as a Top 10 litigator in OWI cases
- Adjunct professor at Ave Maria School of Law
- Decades of criminal defense concentrated on intoxicated driving defense