From the patrol car to the defense table
Michael Vincent began his career in law enforcement with the Ypsilanti Police Department, rising to the rank of Sergeant. He supervised a federally funded drunk driving enforcement patrol, trained and oversaw officers making intoxicated-driving arrests, and served as a certified breathalyzer operator who personally administered hundreds of evidential breath tests. He wrote the reports, testified for the prosecution, and watched how these cases were assembled from the inside.
He retired from the department in August 1986 and has spent the decades since on the other side of the courtroom. That perspective is not a marketing line — it is the working method of the firm. When we read a police report, we read it the way a supervisor reads a weak arrest: looking for the corner that got cut, the test that was scored wrong, the log entry that isn't there.
Teaching the next generation
Mr. Vincent has served as an adjunct professor at Ave Maria School of Law, teaching future attorneys the practical mechanics of criminal practice — evidentiary foundations, suppression motions, and cross-examination of the arresting officer. Multiple agencies have recognized him among the top ten litigators in the state for OWI defense.
How he works a case
Every client meets the attorney who will handle the case. Discovery is obtained in full — in-car and body-camera video, dispatch audio, breath instrument calibration and maintenance logs, blood draw records and chain of custody, and the officer's training file where it matters. Nothing is assumed to be correct because a police report says it is.
- Was the traffic stop supported by reasonable suspicion?
- Were field sobriety tests administered and scored to NHTSA standards?
- Was the breath instrument in certification, and the operator properly licensed?
- Was a blood draw supported by a valid warrant and handled to protocol?
- What do the video and dispatch audio actually show, as opposed to what the report claims?
Bar admissions & affiliations
Credentials to be confirmed and expanded with the firm before launch — including law school, year of admission, and any Super Lawyers or Avvo recognition the client wishes to display.