Geherin Law Group, PLLC

Focus and practice areas

Criminal defense is the main line of work at Geherin Law Group, a firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The firm represents people charged in criminal court, and it names a wide set of charges. Those include assault, domestic violence, criminal sexual conduct, homicide, theft and property crimes, weapons charges, and white collar matters. Breaking and entering and computer crimes appear on the same list.

The firm also handles drug and narcotic cases, and it names marijuana offenses among them. In my opinion, the breadth of named charges points to a firm that takes a first call across most kinds of criminal trouble, whether the count is a single misdemeanor or a serious felony.

Some of the firm's work reaches past the criminal docket. It handles drunk driving and OWI defense, license restoration, and expungements. Wrongful death claims and catastrophic injury cases fall on the civil side, where the firm pursues money damages for people who have been harmed. The firm also takes juvenile matters, college discipline defense, and civil rights cases, which keeps it close to both the courtroom and the administrative processes that sit beside criminal charges.

Who leads the work

Daniel T. Geherin founded the firm and works as its principal attorney. He is a former prosecutor, so he has argued cases from the charging side of a criminal courtroom before moving to the defense. He holds board certification as a criminal trial attorney through the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and the firm states he is the only attorney in Washtenaw County to hold it.

The figures the firm publishes for Geherin are specific. He has defended more than 2,500 clients and handled hundreds of jury trials. He also carries an AV-Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, a peer-review mark tied to legal ability and ethical standards. Together those details describe a lawyer who has spent a long stretch of a career inside trial courts.

Brian D. Montoye works as Of Counsel, with his main focus on criminal defense. He has practiced across Michigan for many years and has litigated hundreds of cases. His work also covers civil and landlord-tenant matters, and he stays active in the Washtenaw County Bar Association. He earned a J.D., cum laude, from Thomas M. Cooley Law School and a B.S. from Eastern Michigan University.

Marti Davis rounds out the named staff as a legal assistant and client coordinator, a non-attorney role that handles scheduling and client contact. Across the team, the firm states more than 60 years of combined courtroom and litigation experience.

What the credentials point to

Board certification through the National Board of Trial Advocacy is worth a plain explanation. The credential asks an attorney to show a set number of trials, pass a written examination, and gather favorable references from judges and other lawyers before it is granted, and it requires renewal on a fixed cycle. The certification puts a formal, tested standard behind the label of trial attorney, one many lawyers never pursue. A former prosecutor also carries first-hand knowledge of how charging decisions and plea talks work on the government side.

The AV-Preeminent rating rests on reviews from other lawyers and from judges who have seen the attorney work. As a reviewer, I read the pairing of that rating with a heavy jury-trial count as a sign the firm prepares each matter as though it could reach a jury and stand up at trial. Both marks describe reputation and experience, and neither one promises a result in a given case.

The range of criminal matters

The charge list the firm names covers both misdemeanor and felony territory. Homicide and criminal sexual conduct sit at the serious end, where Michigan law sets long maximum terms and, on some counts, mandatory minimums. A felony case usually opens with an arraignment, moves through a probable cause conference and a preliminary examination in district court, and binds over to circuit court when the evidence clears that step.

Criminal sexual conduct charges in Michigan run in four degrees. The degree turns on the alleged act and on factors such as the age of the person involved and the presence of force. Defense work in these cases often centers on physical evidence, the reliability of witness accounts, and the way investigators conducted their interviews. Geherin Law Group names this area on its site, alongside the trial background of its founder.

Drug and narcotic charges carry their own structure. Michigan sorts controlled substances into schedules, and the charge often depends on the substance, the amount, and whether the state alleges possession or intent to deliver. Marijuana offenses, which the firm names, now sit against the state's 2018 vote to legalize adult recreational use, so many current cases turn on amount, location, or whether a driver was impaired.

How the related matters move

Several of the firm's service areas follow set procedures in Michigan, and a short map helps set expectations. Expungement, known in the statute as setting aside a conviction, runs through a petition to the court, and under the state's Clean Slate law some records now clear on an automatic schedule. A judge weighs eligibility, the waiting period, and the person's record since the conviction.

License restoration after a drunk driving revocation follows a separate track. In Michigan it goes before a Secretary of State hearing, where a driver presents an evaluation and evidence of sobriety before full privileges return. OWI defense itself moves through the criminal court, where the traffic stop, the breath or blood testing, and the procedure behind that testing often shape the outcome.

College discipline defense runs outside the courtroom. These cases go through a university's own conduct process, with its own panels and standards, and they can run in parallel with a criminal case built on the same facts. That the firm names this work fits a firm that operates in a university town, where a student charge can put both a court file and an academic record at stake. Juvenile matters follow yet another set of rules, with a separate court and a focus on supervision and records that can later be sealed.

Where the firm works

Geherin Law Group serves Ann Arbor and the wider Washtenaw County area, along with nearby communities. The named team stays small, with one principal attorney, one Of Counsel attorney, and a client coordinator handling day-to-day contact. That structure keeps a board-certified trial lawyer as the lead on the firm's cases, with support from an Of Counsel attorney whose own practice reaches into civil and landlord-tenant work.