Law Offices of Joseph A. Simon, PLLC

What the firm does

The Law Offices of Joseph A. Simon, PLLC is a criminal defense firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Criminal defense is the only thing it does. The firm represents people charged with or under investigation for misdemeanor and felony offenses, and its stated range runs from traffic matters up to homicide.

That single focus is worth pausing on. Some firms list criminal defense alongside family law, personal injury and estate planning. This one does not. In my opinion, a practice that keeps to one field is easier to read for a client who wants to know what they are hiring.

Focus and practice areas

The firm's practice pages cover a defined set of charges. These include assault, criminal sexual conduct, domestic violence, drug crimes, drunk driving under Michigan's OWI and DUI statutes, theft offenses, home invasion, homicide and computer crimes.

The firm also handles expungements, and its own text names OWI and DUI expungements among them. That matters to people whose case has ended but whose record has not. Malicious destruction of property and college crimes appear in the firm's written material as well.

Reading the list, the work sits on both sides of a criminal matter. There is the defense of a live charge, and there is the later step of clearing a conviction from a record. A client can bring either kind of problem to the same office.

Where the firm handles cases

Washtenaw County is the firm's primary area. It also takes cases in Wayne, Jackson, Lenawee and Livingston counties. Joseph A. Simon practices before all Michigan state courts and is admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

How the team is built

Two attorneys carry the firm's name and work. Joseph A. Simon leads it. Stephen Adams works as Of Counsel on criminal defense matters.

Joseph A. Simon has practiced criminal defense in Michigan for more than 35 years. The firm states that he has tried hundreds of criminal cases across the state. Trial count is a plain figure, and a defendant weighing a plea against a fight in court has reason to ask about it.

His background reaches past the courtroom too. He authored the Michigan Automated Sentencing Guidelines and has taught classes through ICLE, the state's continuing legal education body. Writing on sentencing and teaching other lawyers both sit close to the daily work of defending a charge, since sentencing exposure is often what a client cares about most.

The firm states that its attorneys hold more than 65 years of combined criminal defense experience. As a reviewer, I read a combined figure as a rough measure rather than a precise one, but the direction it points is clear enough.

The Of Counsel arrangement

Stephen Adams sits in an Of Counsel role. That title usually means a lawyer works with a firm without being a full partner in it. The site names him on criminal defense matters and does not detail more, so this review leaves it there.

What the record shows

The firm's own material gives a few concrete markers. There is the 35-plus years of practice for its named attorney. There is the count of hundreds of tried cases. There is admission to a federal district court alongside the state courts.

The firm does not publish a founding year, and this review does not guess at one. It also does not list law schools or bar admission dates for either attorney. Rather than fill those spaces, I read the firm on what it does state, which is its experience, its court admissions and the charges it takes.

The authorship of the Michigan Automated Sentencing Guidelines is a specific, checkable claim. So is the ICLE teaching. These are the kinds of details that give a listing something to stand on, because they can be traced beyond the firm's own homepage.

Who might look here

The firm's structure points to a certain kind of client. Someone facing an OWI or DUI charge in the Ann Arbor area fits the profile. So does a person charged with assault, a drug offense, a theft count or a domestic violence allegation in Washtenaw or one of the four neighboring counties.

The expungement work widens that group. A person whose case closed years ago, and who now wants a conviction cleared, can approach the same firm. Michigan's expungement rules changed in recent years, and the firm names this among its services.

In my opinion, the clearest signal from this listing is consistency. One practice area, a lead attorney with a long stated record, a defined set of counties and a written list of charges. A client comparing firms can match their own situation against that list without much guesswork.

How to read this listing

This review rests on what the firm publishes about itself. Where the site is specific, such as the trial count, the years in practice and the court admissions, this listing repeats those points plainly. Where the site is silent, this listing stays silent too.

The firm offers free, confidential consultations, which gives a prospective client a way to test the fit before committing. For anyone weighing criminal defense counsel in the Ann Arbor area, the firm presents a single, defined focus and a named attorney with a stated Michigan record. That is a reasonable starting point for a first call.