Attorney Biography
Founder and lead attorney of the Crowley Law Group (formerly the Law Offices of Michael L. Crowley), Mr. Crowley has been practicing criminal law for more than 27 years and is a Criminal Law Specialist, certified by the State Bar of California’s, Board of Legal Specialization for more than 15 years. He practices in both state and federal criminal courts and was named Criminal Defense Lawyer of the Year for 2005 by the Criminal Defense Bar Association of San Diego.
Mr. Crowley began his law career working for the former San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre "prosecuting" securities violators in the civil courts. Two years later, Mr. Crowley became a sole practitioner in criminal law and civil rights litigation, representing civilians complaining of police abuse. He won a $1.3 million award against the County of San Diego on behalf of a former Navy chaplain who was severely beaten by sheriff's deputies.
Today, he leads a team of lawyers who specialize in most criminal practice areas from DUIs to White Collar Crime, and civil practice areas such as Abusive Debt Collection, Civil Rights, and Administrative matters.
Additionally, Mr. Crowley has spent the past 19 years as an adjunct law professor at California Western and Thomas Jefferson law schools, teaching Legal Skills, Constitutional Law, Constitutional Litigation, Criminal Motions and most recently California Evidence.
Mr. Crowley graduated from California Western School of Law, cum laude in 1984 where he was executive editor of California Western Law Review and the author of an award-winning article in the same publication. He graduated from the University of South Florida in 1974 with bachelor degrees in Journalism & Political Science before working as a newspaper reporter which included covering the courts.
He is a past president of both the Criminal Defense Lawyer's Club and the Criminal Defense Bar Association (CDBA) where he is currently a director of CDBA. He has co-chaired the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference of Lawyer Reps, and the county bar's Federal Court's committee, chaired the Lawyer Referral and Information Service, and is currently a member of the San Diego County Bar’s Ethics Committee. He is a member and licensed to practice law in all California state courts, the U.S. District Courts of San Diego and Los Angeles along with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. Crowley is a member of the Criminal Defense Bar Association – San Diego, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, and the San Diego County Bar Association.
