Michael A. Schwartz

Michael Schwartz is an attorney in Savannah. His practice focuses on defending individuals whose conduct has been misunderstood by people in positions of power.

A Colorado native who grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, Michael graduated from the University of Denver with degrees in economics and public policy before enrolling at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. Law school in Chicago meant access to some of the premier criminal defense training in the country, and Michael focused his coursework and clinical work on advanced criminal defense techniques. After internships in Chicago with the Cook County Public Defender (at the infamous “busiest courthouse in America”) and the United States Navy, he graduated law school in 2007 and commissioned in the United States Air Force.

In the Air Force, where “JAG” attorneys are required to serve as prosecutors before they earn the privilege to be assigned as defense counsel, Michael learned what it meant to build a case as a prosecutor. He also learned what he already knew: he didn’t like it. In most cases, confinement does not serve the purpose people believe it serves. And it’s far too easy for the government to lock people up.

Promoting to a position as an Air Force defense lawyer —essentially a public defender for Airmen accused of crimes, including special operators assigned to the Joint Special Operations Command at Ft. Bragg, NC—Michael excelled. He learned how to use a defendant’s good qualities to help them in their cases. He obtained acquittals in a variety of cases and learned how to develop mitigation evidence on behalf of people who had suffered trauma in their military service. And he was exposed to some of the most complex criminal litigation in the country. As an Air Force judge advocate and later a Department of Defense civilian attorney, he commuted for six years between Washington, D.C., and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he defended detainees facing trials before military commissions.

Michael moved to Savannah in 2018 for a job with the Georgia Capital Defender, the state agency responsible for defending people Georgia prosecutors are trying to kill. He continues to assist in death penalty cases but entered private practice in 2021, allowing him to focus on a broader selection of cases, not only murders.

In addition to his criminal defense practice, Michael is the executive director of Safety Valve Project, Inc., a Georgia nonprofit providing free assistance to public school students facing allegations before school tribunals.