Michael Lawrence has defended thousands of people and tried scores of jury trials ranging from capital murder to simple misdemeanors during a career spanning thirty-seven years.

He arrived in Monterey County in 1972 and took a position as a staff attorney with the Monterey County Public Defenders Office. Three years later, in 1975, he became the Assistant Public Defender. In 1979, he was appointed Public Defender of Monterey County. He left the Public Defenders Office in 2005 after 26 years of service, as one of California’s longest-serving chief public defenders.

Lawrence is a graduate of Hastings College of the Law, University of California, in 1968, a former staff attorney with the Riverside Public Defenders Office, and a former partner in the Riverside law firm of Hennigan, Butterwick, and Clepper.