{"id":21,"date":"2012-06-26T22:45:54","date_gmt":"2012-06-27T02:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/?page_id=21"},"modified":"2012-06-27T21:46:29","modified_gmt":"2012-06-28T01:46:29","slug":"legal-background","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/?page_id=21","title":{"rendered":"Attorney at Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_22\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rollofattorneys.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22\" class=\" wp-image-22   \" title=\"Signing the Roll of Attorneys\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rollofattorneys.jpg\" alt=\"Signing the Roll of Attorneys\" width=\"340\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rollofattorneys.jpg 566w, http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rollofattorneys-284x300.jpg 284w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-22\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Signing the Roll of Attorneys at the Missouri Supreme Court in 2004.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia School of Law in 2003 and passed the Missouri Bar in the spring of 2004. I immediately began working for the Missouri State Public Defender system. I proudly specialized in juvenile law, helping kids understand the legal process and often sending them to special schools or drug rehabilitation programs. In 2006 I took an opportunity to switch sides of the criminal courtroom, becoming Municipal Prosecutor for the town of Holden, Missouri. I handled the docket by myself with no secretary and no staff whatsoever. \u00c2\u00a0I treated offenders fairly and consistently and did not use the municipal court as a cash cow to bring in revenue. After my two year commission as prosecutor ended, I opened a small law office in nearby Warrensburg, Missouri. I ran a general practice doing traffic, criminal defense, bankruptcy, divorces and child custody, as well as a few other opportunities including an important federal intellectual property case. By 2010 the economic recession had devastated the Warrensburg area and I had become disenchanted with the practice of law in that area. I resolved to change careers and leave this chapter of my life behind me. I remain a consultant to a select few clients and friends who continue to value my advice and ideas.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Branson Legal Services, LLC<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>May 2008 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c June 2011<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>General solo practice specializing in felony and misdemeanor criminal defense, divorce and child custody, civil suits, traffic matters, and bankruptcy.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Special consultant to Dick Heller on ideas and concepts for further litigation following the landmark D.C. v. Heller Supreme Court Decision. See \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Legal Team\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at\u00c2\u00a0<a title=\"Heller Foundation\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hellerfoundation.org\" target=\"_blank\">www.hellerfoundation.org<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Efficiently organized and managed all aspects of the solo practice without support staff, including business management, advertising, and financial matters.<\/li>\n<li>Consistently and effectively negotiated important matters in my clients\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 cases, including parenting plans, property settlements, and reduced penalties and fines in criminal cases. Also handled case diversion, for example a high pressure negotiation process in a felony unregistered pistol silencer case, resulting in no charges being filed against the client.<\/li>\n<li>Won serious felony cases and complex domestic cases for my clients, including drug and weapons violations and child custody cases.\u00c2\u00a0 Stand-out victories included getting sole legal custody of children awarded to their fathers in contested trial settings.<\/li>\n<li>Appeared in court in front of judges or juries on average 20 court times each month.<\/li>\n<li>Practice was focused primarily on Johnson, Cass, andJacksonCounties, but branched out as far asSt. CharlesandBatesCounties.<\/li>\n<li>January 2010 won a six-figure settlement for my client in a complex Intellectual Property matter as pro hac vice counsel in the Federal Southern District of Georgia.<\/li>\n<li>Certified mediator\/adjudicator since 2004.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Municipal Prosecutor, City of Holden<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>June 2006 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c June 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>City Prosecutor for a small rural town prosecuting all aspects of all municipal offenses.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dramatically increased efficiency of the municipal docket by reducing its backlog of dormant cases.<\/li>\n<li>Quickly reduced the number of cases that were more than a year old by encouraging the court to issue arrest warrants and set cash bonds consistently for individuals who failed to appear or meet their obligations.<\/li>\n<li>Successfully implemented a policy of high fines for drug and alcohol offenses, and meaningful jail time for assaults and repeat offenders.<\/li>\n<li>Worked collaboratively with police, city council, local defense attorneys, and the 17th circuit court to protect the community in a reasonable and fair manner.<\/li>\n<li>Organized and maintained all legal and financial records of the municipal prosecution office.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><strong>Missouri State Public Defender\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>August 2004 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c May 2006<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Public Defender at KC Juvenile Division, 16th Circuit Family Court, Division 41, working with juvenile cases, from simple status offenses to complex felonies and making court frequent appearances.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Successfully managed preparation for court appearances, client interviews, and follow-up procedures for nearly 100 court appearances per month including preliminary hearings, and multiple bench trials per week.<\/li>\n<li>Closed approximately 400 trial files in 2005 without the aid of support staff.<\/li>\n<li>Defended juvenile offenders on serious felony charges, including complex child sex crime, drug distribution and trafficking, assaults, firearms offenses, and arsons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia School of Law in 2003 and passed the Missouri Bar in the spring of 2004. I immediately began working for the Missouri State Public Defender system. I proudly specialized in juvenile law, helping kids understand the legal process and often sending them to special schools or drug [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mikebransonconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}