The Lucky Lawyer

"The Lucky Lawyer" follows decades practicing before the criminal courts in California, Arizona, and Illinois. This is a chronicle of hoping and persevering through hundreds of courtroom battles.

This book covers the author's childhood through high school, college, and law school. It describes an unlikely entry into law school and an even more unlikely landing in a public defender's office as a criminal defense attorney. "The Lucky Lawyer" chronicles the author's fascinating luck in jury trials spanning a wide variety of issues, including murder, robbery, rape, and drugs. This memoir shows that anything can happen in a jury trial, and that even the proceedings with little to no hope can still find success.

Miguel A. Hernandez was born into a life of poverty, grew up as a child working in agriculture fields, and learned English while immersed in the California education system. He learned Mandarin Chinese in the United States Air Force, returned to finish a college education at UC Fresno, and serendipitously wound up in law school. Graduating law school, he eschewed a career in tax law to become a deputy public defender with no previous interest in criminal law or defending people accused of committing crimes. In the ensuing years (almost fifty), he raised of family of two sons with his wife and conducted hundreds of jury trials with incredible luck and remarkable surprise endings.