Juan J. Michelen — The Michelen Firm

01 — Approach

I try cases. That's the foundation.

Most of what I do happens long before trial. Motions. Investigation. Forensic analysis. Cross-examination prep. But it all gets built for the same purpose — to be ready when a case goes to verdict.

I've tried over sixty cases to verdict in state and federal court, across the full range of federal and state felonies. The pattern is the same in every one — the government builds its case on evidence it expects no one will challenge at its foundation.

Most modern prosecutions turn on digital evidence. Cell site records placing someone at a scene. Data pulled from a phone. Wire taps, encrypted messages, surveillance footage, metadata. I work with this evidence directly — to investigate a case before trial, and to challenge the government's theory when the case is tried. It's also what I teach; I lead training sessions on digital evidence at the biannual Techniques in Electronic Case Management conference, hosted by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts for Defender Services.

That work is what separates a case prepared for trial from a case prepared to plead. Both paths are sometimes right. But the quality of the first determines the terms of the second.

02 — Practice

Five areas of practice.

Federal and state courts · Miami and throughout Florida

/ 01

Federal & State
Criminal Defense

I represent people under investigation, charged, or on trial in federal and Florida state court. That work covers the full range of federal and state felonies — from initial grand jury exposure and pretrial motions through trial and appeal. It includes matters where the stakes are a client's liberty, livelihood, or reputation. The defense has to be built, and it has to be real.

/ 02

Violent Crime
Defense

I defend people accused of the most serious crimes — attempted murder, sexual assault, aggravated battery, armed offenses, and related federal and state felonies. These cases often turn on contested physical evidence, forensic science, eyewitness identification, and increasingly on digital evidence that places or implicates a person through means the defense has to understand to challenge.

/ 03

Narcotics &
Federal Conspiracy

I represent people charged with narcotics offenses in state and federal court, including federal conspiracies and trafficking. These cases are typically built on informant testimony, wiretap evidence, surveillance, cell site location data, and electronic communications. Each of those sources has weaknesses, and each deserves to be examined before the government's theory is treated as proven.

/ 04

White-Collar Defense
& Complex Fraud

I defend individuals and companies facing federal fraud charges — healthcare and Medicare fraud, bank and wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, securities matters, and other financial crimes. The work includes grand jury representation, internal investigations, and responses to regulatory enforcement by federal agencies. Most of these cases come down to the interpretation of documents, data, and communications, and to whether the government's theory survives scrutiny on each.

/ 05

Digital Evidence
& Cybercrime

Digital evidence is now central to nearly every prosecution, and to the defense of nearly every serious case. I defend people charged with cybercrime-related offenses — computer intrusion, identity theft, online fraud, cryptocurrency matters, and charges involving electronic communications. I also work with digital evidence across every other type of case I handle: analyzing cell site data, device extractions, cloud records, and forensic reports, and challenging the reliability and interpretation of that evidence when the case is tried.

03 — About

Background.

Juan J. Michelen

I try cases in federal and state court. For eleven years, that meant representing people who could not afford to choose their lawyer — first as an Assistant Public Defender in Miami-Dade County, then as an Assistant Federal Defender in the Southern District of Florida and the District of Puerto Rico. I then spent three years in private practice at Stumphauzer Kolaya Nadler & Sloman, a Miami trial boutique, handling complex commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and internal investigations — before opening my own firm.

Those years shaped how I work. Public and federal defenders try more cases than most lawyers in private practice will try in a career, often against well-resourced prosecutors with cooperators, wire taps, and years of investigation behind them. The volume and seriousness of that work teaches you what actually matters in a case, and what the government's theory can and cannot bear when it's tested.

I've tried over sixty cases to verdict across federal and state court, spanning the full range of federal and state felonies. Some of those cases ended in acquittals. Some ended in dismissals mid-trial or before trial, after motions that deprived the government of evidence it needed. Some ended in convictions on lesser charges. And some ended in negotiated resolutions that came from the position I was prepared to argue at trial. Each outcome was a product of the same work — building a defense that was ready to be tried, whether or not it ultimately was.

My practice today focuses on the same kind of work, for clients who now choose their lawyer. I represent people charged with serious federal and state offenses, with an emphasis on cases where digital evidence is central — wire taps, cell site data, device extractions, encrypted communications, cryptocurrency, and the other forms of electronic proof that define modern prosecutions. That technical work is also what I teach; I lead training sessions on digital evidence at the biannual Techniques in Electronic Case Management conference, hosted by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts for Defender Services.

I'm admitted in Florida, New York, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. I practice in English and Spanish. My office is in Miami.

04 — Credentials

Faculty

Techniques in Electronic Case Management (TECM)

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts · Defender Services Training Division

Biannual training conference for federal public defenders and CJA counsel. I lead sessions on digital evidence.

Credentials

Education

Fordham University School of LawJ.D., 2011
Fordham UniversityM.A., Elections & Campaign Management, 2011
Florida State UniversityB.A., Communication Studies, cum laude, 2008
Florida State UniversityB.A., History, cum laude, 2008

Admitted

Florida
New York
U.S. District Court, S.D. Florida
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals

Languages

English · Spanish

Michelen.ai

I try cases. That's the foundation.

Five areas of practice.

Background.

Faculty

Credentials

Select matters.

Inquiries are handled directly.