Derrick George | Royal Oak Criminal Defense Lawyer

• American Bar Association Fellow
  2002 - Present
• Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan Fellow
  2016 - 2017
• American Bar Association Secretary
  2016 - 2017
• Jewish Bar Association of Michigan Treasurer/Secretary
  2014 - 2017
• Chaldean American Bar Association Treasurer
  2010 - 2011
• Association of Federal Defense Attorneys | Member
• National Trial Lawyers | Member

• National Trial Lawyers - Top 100 Trial Lawyers Best Law Firms

A case I remember vividly where we made a big difference was that a client, a dad to a 5 month old baby, came to me when his ex-girlfriend/mother of his child was discovered using crack in the home where the baby lived. There were other factors that led to our conclusion that the child was in danger living with his mother, so I filed an emergency ex-parte motion to give the dad full physical and legal custody of the child and the motion was granted. We later went on to win permanent full custody for this father. He Brough his son into my office and even asked me to be The Godfather to the child (which unfortunately would be a conflict of interest, so I had to decline.)

Another case that I had which made a huge difference was a client who came to me after being charged with felony terrorism. The case gained media attention, my client was in a very bad mental state because of the (very bogus) charges and we worked for 2 years on this client's case along with all the hoops and loopholes we had to address throughout the process. My client was a war veteran who had no criminal record and this incident upset him to his core. We had him coming to our office every week just to check on him and give him something to break up the monotony of sitting and waiting for the next phase of his case. I got to know him very well and we became friends. Ultimately we also got all charges reduced and jail-time was no longer a potential outcome. He was so happy and he still calls me every week.

I built a successful practice by being personally accessible to my clients at all hours of the day every day of the week.

Clients should be looking for a lawyer that listens to their issues, listens to their goals and can also guide clients to realistic expectations so there are no unpleasant surprises.

Depending on the charges local knowledge can be quite important. However, I believe knowledge of a client's environment, locale, location of where an incident occurred, court and police personnel can all be learned if an attorney is willing to spend the time learning it.

I don't like to do full consultations over the phone. I will usually just get a sense of the charge/issue, some basic information about the client, look at their paperwork if they can text it to me and then set up an in-person consultation.

How accessible I am, personally, to clients. They have my cell phone number. When a client calls the office they get me personally. I like to be the one answering the phone and talking to the people about their problems. I have clients' family members or friends who call me in the middle of the night when the client is in jail needs a lawyer, thinking they're going to leave a message at my office and I actually answer the phone and go to the jail that same night.

I work with a lot of clients who have drug or alcohol-related issues. I love helping all my clients and seeing how happy they are with the outcomes, but I particularly love seeing clients who come back to visit and have been able to become independent from using substances. That makes me very prideful in the work I do.

I have a background and a Masters of Science in commercial real estate development so I am very interested in the commercial real estate climate around me locally and also in other states. I also often work on commercial real estate transactions in my profession which allows me to merge the two interests I have. Otherwise my interest is iin spending as much time with my family as I can.

I am very involved in my community through political, and cultural avenues. I like learning about different political dynamics and the differences within the residents of the surrounding communities. I have a diverse background, career-wise so I have a lot of different outlets to connect with people in the community.