This man is the epitome of a sleaze ball lawyer. He hard sold me and pressured me into paying an extremely high retainer.
My case was cut and dry from the start. I bought a used car that turned out to be stolen and was arrested. It was EXTREMELY obvious and provable that I did not steal this car.
Michael Kraut fed me lines at his consultation like "You have cancer and you don't have time to shop around for a doctor" and "Normally I charge $15,000 for this but I'm going to do it for 10 because you got screwed".
I'm ashamed to say that my head was spinning from being arrested and spending a night in jail and I stupidly took the bait on his lame 'I was a former DA' sales pitch.
And of course (like many others who’ve also posted online) once he had his money all our communication was short, condescending and rude. My advice is to go with ANY OTHER LAWYER IN TOWN. I'm sure your chances, your experience and your money will be better off.
Needless to say I've been screwed over pretty bad from my whole situation. I lost the money on my car purchase, I lost the bail money but what was most upsetting in my ordeal was Michael Kraut's behavior and disregard for his profession. I turned to legal council in a time of need and he wound up taking me for more money then the person who sold me the stolen car on Craigslist. He misrepresented the scope of my case in his office, preyed on me, exploited my situation and took advantage of my fearful state of mind.
A part of me feels bad for him. His life's work seems to be defending drunk drivers and ripping honest good people off. I wouldn't want that for all the money in Los Angeles. In my opinion he is truly a disgusting awful person.
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