Michael J. DeNiro, PhD, Attorney: Defending students, faculty and individuals wronged by educational and governmental institutions since 2007
My Background and Experience
Long before I became a lawyer, I was an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame, graduating with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1970, a graduate student at Caltech, receiving a Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1977, and finally a professor of stable isotopy for thirty years, first at UCLA, from 1979 through 1988, and then at UC Santa Barbara, from 1988 through 2009. My experiences as an academic profoundly impressed on me an understanding of how institutions often deny individuals their legal rights. That impression informs how I practice law.
I went to law school toward the end of my time as a professor. Over the span of 97 days in 2007, I took the California bar exam, graduated law school, received notice that I passed the bar exam, and was sworn into the State Bar of California.
As a member in good standing of the State Bar of California, I can represent you if you reside anywhere in California, and have done so for clients throughout the state. I can also represent you if you attend or attended a college or university in California, regardless of the state in which you reside/resided when school is/was not in session. Please note that I cannot represent you, or even provide free advice, if you have issues with a school you attend/attended when the school is not in California, even if you are a California resident.
I have represented clients at elementary and high schools and at community colleges, colleges, and universities throughout California. I have also represented clients in Superior Court for the counties of Alameda, Amador, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Solano and Yolo, and in front of California state agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the Employment Development Department (EDD), the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), and the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) (aka the Labor Board).
I am also admitted to and have represented clients in all the United States District Courts for California (the Central District of California, the Eastern District of California, the Northern District of California, and the Southern District of California), and can also represent you in front of Federal agencies, including the U.S. Social Security Administration.
Please click the appropriate link in the above menu to review the types of legal services I provide, then Contact Me for a free initial consultation.
Contact Me
To schedule a free initial consultation, call me at (805) 845-8223, or email me at mjdeniro7cox.net (please replace the "7" with the "at symbol"), or Click to send me an e-mail.
During the initial consultation, I will gather the relevant facts from you to determine if I can offer legal services that might help you, and then, if you want me to, I will send you a fee agreement showing how much those services would cost you.
I will not offer affirmative advice - do this, don't do that - during the initial consultation. I only do that once you become my client. I don't review documents prior to the initial consultation, I only do that once you become my client. And finally, if your matter does not involve the application of California law or of Federal law to a matter that arose in California, I will inform you during the initial consultation that I cannot provide any advice because by doing so I would be engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, which is forbidden by the Rules of Professional Conduct of the California State Bar.
The use of the Internet for communications with me will not establish an attorney-client relationship. Please note that messages containing confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent. Pursuant to Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1-400, the matter herein must be labeled as a newsletter.
