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Michael & Associates (Houston): A Board-Certified Attorney Backed by a 20-Lawyer Statewide Defense Team

Charles Pelowski is Board Certified in Criminal Law and a Super Lawyers honoree with 15-plus years of experience ranging from DWI to murder, anchoring the Houston office of a Texas firm that fields more than 20 defense attorneys statewide — including former judges, forensic DWI experts, and former Texas DPS prosecutors — rather than a single-attorney practice.

At a Glance

Origin and Background

Charles Pelowski is Board Certified in Criminal Law and previously worked as a public defender before joining Michael & Associates’ Houston office, bringing 15-plus years of experience across cases ranging from DWI to murder. The firm itself, founded by Ben Michael, has grown into a 20-plus-attorney statewide practice with offices in Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio, backed by a 100-member support staff. Firm-wide, the team includes former judges, forensic DWI experts, former FBI agents, and former Texas DPS prosecutors.

Practice Concentration

The Houston office handles DWI and DUI defense, drug possession, assault and family violence, and broader felony and misdemeanor criminal defense — the firm does not handle traffic, family, immigration, or civil law. See this Houston DWI/DWI Defense directory for how this large-team, resource-backed model compares to solo and small-firm DWI practices in Harris County. The firm publishes Harris County-specific DWI outcome data on its site, including dismissal and conviction rates by offense level, drawn from county court statistics.

Track Record

The firm states it has secured thousands of dismissals, reductions, and acquittals statewide across misdemeanor and felony cases, with a published 98% client satisfaction rate calculated from client-survey data. These are firm-published, self-reported figures and have not been independently re-verified against court dockets by this profile; past results do not guarantee similar outcomes, and every case depends on its own specific facts.

Client Voice

The firm holds an A+ Better Business Bureau rating and a 5.0 average across more than 670 Google reviews firm-wide. Reviewers specifically praise attorney responsiveness and staff support, and describe successful case dismissals after initially being told by other counsel that dismissal was unlikely. Awesome Attorneys did not identify a pattern of negative or unresolved reviews warranting disclosure.

Beyond the Courtroom

The firm’s stated model of limiting each attorney’s caseload to allow direct client access, including providing clients a direct attorney phone number, reflects a specific practice-structure choice distinct from a high-volume caseload model.

Recognition

Pelowski’s Board Certification in Criminal Law is the state’s official specialty credential, and his Super Lawyers selection is a peer-nomination-based distinction. Firm-wide, Michael & Associates holds a Martindale-Hubbell Client Champion Platinum rating (2025) and an Avvo Client’s Choice designation — both rating-platform distinctions distinct in character from the individual board certification.

Texas Legal Backdrop

A Texas DWI arrest triggers two separate proceedings: the criminal case, and a civil Administrative License Revocation (ALR) case against the driver’s license, with only 15 days from arrest to request the ALR hearing before an automatic suspension takes effect. Under Texas Penal Code §49.04, a person can be charged with DWI without a BAC test result if an officer’s observations establish loss of normal mental or physical faculties. None of this is legal advice; anyone facing a DWI charge should consult a licensed Texas attorney about the specific facts of their case.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Michael & Associates’ Houston office clearest, most checkable differentiator is Charles Pelowski’s TBLS Board Certification backed by the resources of a 20-plus-attorney statewide team that includes forensic DWI experts and former prosecutors — a depth of bench strength a solo or two-attorney practice cannot match. The honest trade-off: the firm’s satisfaction and dismissal figures are self-reported and firm-wide rather than Houston-office-specific or independently re-verified by this profile, and a prospective client should confirm during intake which specific attorney will handle their case. For a Harris County client who wants the backing of a large, resource-rich defense team behind a board-certified local attorney, this combination is a genuine, checkable basis for a shortlist.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from Michael & Associates’ official website (zealousadvocate.com), its Houston-specific practice page, Super Lawyers and Martindale.com office listings confirming the Post Oak Boulevard address and attorney roster, and independently confirmed BBB and Google review data.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Michael & Associates prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile.