Santa Rosa Attorney David J. Hamilton
is a person you can trust for your criminal defense, divorce, restraining order, living trust, and other legal needs. David is adept at communicating the legal process in Spanish.
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Las Oficinas Legales del Abogado David J. Hamilton
Trusted Professionals
Criminal Defense Law
Santa Rosa attorney David Hamilton has experience in a wide range of criminal issues, both felony and misdemeanor, adult and juvenile. This experience includes work on such charges as weapon’s possession, child molestation, assault, felony assault with great bodily injury, drug sales/possession, DUI and domestic violence. More recently, he has experience a high success rate with Oppositions to Law Enforcement Asset Forfeiture.
Restraining Orders
David Hamilton's law office provides services in regard to Elder Abuse Protection, Workplace Violence, Domestic Violence, and Civil Harassment Restraining Orders. We have represented both the Plaintiff as well as the Defendant. David has prevailed in numerous restraining order trials as well as the all-important initial Order to Show Cause Hearing.
Child Custody
Mr. Hamilton was formerly a Child Custody Evaluator and uses his experience to provide clients with compassionate and comprehensive representation in Child/Spousal Support and Divorce cases. This also provides him with the ability to prepare and guide each client throughout the Family Court Services Mediation process.
Related issues
Because of the variety of issues he has addressed in Family Law and his wide range of experience in law enforcement, David is able to use this insight to help expedite the process of challenging venue or jurisdiction and restoring a primary custodial parent’s rights.
Wills & Trusts
The Law Office of David J. Hamilton can prepare Trust packages at a reasonable price. These packages include Wills, Living Trusts, Advance Health Care Directives, and a Durable Power of Attorney.
Detailed Investigation Services
Having spent 27 years working in law enforcement, Mr. Hamilton is well versed in investigating people. He has a broad network of peers that includes retired peace officers who are licensed private investigators. To help locate absconders for Service of Process, our firm also subscribes to person/asset search systems.
Santa Rosa Lawyer David J. Hamilton
Attorney David J. Hamilton's Santa Rosa, California law practice makes communication with his clients a priority. Retired from the County of Sonoma after 27 years in law enforcement, Mr. Hamilton uses that experience to help others by explaining the complicated court process in simple to understand terms. His professional experience includes:
- Former Deputy Probation
Officer
- Juvenile Detention
- Adult Investigations,
- Citation Release/Jail Services,
- Supervised Own Recognizance
- Electronic Home Confinement Program.
- Probation Civil Custody Unit, where he was immersed in Family Law. He worked as a Mediator and Child Custody Evaluator, visiting the parent's homes, interviewing children, and writing comprehensive reports with recommendations for custody and timeshare.
David received his Juris Doctor Degree from the Empire College School of Law, where he was a Student Mentor for their Elder Law Clinic. David received the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence in the subjects of Contract Law and Criminal Procedure.
Law Clerk Kevin Fitzpatrick
Law Clerk Kevin Fitzpatrick was born and raised in the United Kingdom. He came to the United States in November 1999. Before becoming involved in law, Kevin had a 17 year career teaching in England. He holds a Bachelor of Education Degree (Theology/Music) from University of Birmingham, England, a Master of Education Degree (Theology) from the Maryvale Institute, University of Hull, England, and a Juris Doctor Degree from Empire College School of Law, in Santa Rosa, California. Kevin also holds a number of certificates awarded by the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music. Prior to coming to the United States, he was Head of the Theology Department at Douai Abbey, a Benedictine School in rural England. Kevin began law school in 2000, and worked for the Sonoma County Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) as a Certified Law Clerk. Since 2001, he has concentrated his work to the area of Family Law.
Kevin’s areas of expertise include Legal Separation, Dissolution of Marriage (Divorce), Child Custody, Child Support, Spousal Support, Disposition of Assets, Guardianships, Temporary Restraining Order Applications and Defense, and "Ex-Parte" Actions and Defense.
Office Manager Sylvia Lee
Office Manager Sylvia Lee was born and raised in the Sonoran region of Mexico. Sylvia graduated from the University of Sonora, earning her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Clinical Psychology. Prior to moving to California, Sylvia worked for the Secretary of Social Development in Sonora (SEDESOL), a Federal Government Agency dedicated to fighting urban poverty and improving the quality of life for people living in marginalized urban areas. Sylvia was a part of the launch of Habitat, a SEDESOL program that focused on strengthening Mexican families living in poverty and providing them with the skills necessary to improve their quality of life. Through teaching coping and recovery skills to victims of Domestic Violence, she learned to impart confidence and self-esteem and has incorporated this into her daily interactions. Sylvia’s fluency in both the English and Spanish language provides our Spanish speaking clientele with extra assurance, should her interpretation skills be required (or personally requested) during a court proceeding.
Sylvia’s duties include drafting complicated legal pleadings such as Demurrers, Contempt Complaints and Defenses, Custody Motions, Declarations in Support of Attorney’s Fees to be paid by the opposition, as well as meeting with clients to prepare them for child custody evaluations or mediation proceedings through Family Court Services (FCS).
In addition to being bi-lingual, Sylvia's duties include drafting, processing, and serving various Family Law documents which include Declarations, Responses, Motions, Income and Expense Disclosures, "Propertizers", Computer Spousal Support Calculations (Dissomasters), and assisting clients with "deadbeat" support cases.
Administrative Assistant Danielle Hamilton
Administrative Assistant Danielle Hamilton uses her 14 years of experience working for the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department and the Sonoma County Probation Department to her advantage in managing our criminal caseload. Prior to joining David’s firm, Danielle worked on the jail’s correction side of the Sheriff’s Department. She later transferred to the Probation Department’s Supervised Electronic Confinement (SEC) Unit at the North County Detention Facility. Danielle was part of a team of probation staff that dealt with drug testing, cleaning and installation of monitoring equipment, and the supervision of those serving out their sentence at home. She regularly met with probationers to ensure their compliance with each individual’s probation conditions such as AA/NA meeting attendance, Domestic Violence Counseling, and/or Drunk Driving Program (DDP). She also conducted the breath and urinalysis testing of SEC program participants to verify they were not in violation of their probation while teaching recovery skills and encouraging them to remain clean and sober.
Danielle left her career in law enforcement to join her dad when he decided to pursue other avenues of law and begin his own practice. Her duties now range from general reception, such as answering the phones to screen potential clients and calendar a free initial consultation, to coordinating between our clients’ obligations to fulfill post-sentencing requirements with Alternate Sentencing Programs. She drafts Discovery Requests to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office on various criminal matters, as well as prepares a Waiver of Appearance (to avoid a client having to take unpaid time off from work) unless their appearance is required by the court. Because of her previous work experience in law enforcement, Danielle is able to use this insight into the "inner workings" of the detention facilities and probation department to guide our clients throughout the entire criminal justice system.