Email
[email protected]
Phone
562-216-4444
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C.D. Michel

Position:
CEO, Founding Partner
Direct Line:
(562) 216-4444
Assistant’s Phone:
(562) 216-4477
Email:
[email protected]

C.D. “Chuck” Michel
Founder & Senior Partner

C.D. “Chuck” Michel is the Founder and Senior Partner of Michel & Associates, P.C. His practice spans constitutional and civil-rights litigation, complex civil and criminal litigation, regulatory and administrative law, public-entity and municipal matters, environmental and land-use law, business and nonprofit governance, and firearms law.

Over more than three decades of practice, Michel has represented individuals, businesses, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, and public entities in state and federal courts and before administrative and regulatory agencies. His work has included constitutional challenges, commercial disputes, criminal and regulatory matters, environmental and land-use controversies, municipal and public-law issues, employment matters, and organizational governance. He has tried more than 40 jury trials and has handled writ and appellate proceedings in state and federal courts.

Michel’s environmental and regulatory background dates to the early part of his career. After serving as a judicial law clerk to United States District Judge William J. Rea and working as a prosecutor, he practiced environmental and civil litigation at O’Melveny & Myers. His work there included matters arising from major environmental disputes and participation in the Christopher Commission investigation of the Los Angeles Police Department. That background continues to inform the firm’s work involving environmental regulation, land use, public entities, administrative agencies, and complex litigation.

Michel also advises businesses and nonprofit organizations on governance, regulatory compliance, operational issues, litigation, and interactions with government agencies. His work for public entities and governmental clients has included litigation, ordinance and regulatory issues, constitutional questions, employment matters, and other areas of municipal and public law.

A significant part of Michel’s career has involved firearms law and Second Amendment litigation. He is President of the California Rifle & Pistol Association and President of the Second Amendment Law Center. Through those organizations and Michel & Associates, he has participated in constitutional challenges to firearms laws, regulatory and administrative matters affecting firearm owners and businesses, and litigation concerning the scope and application of the Second Amendment in state and federal courts.

Michel has participated in matters associated with major Second Amendment cases before the United States Supreme Court and in challenges to California firearms laws involving firearm possession, acquisition, public carry, ammunition, commonly owned firearms, and related constitutional issues. His firearms practice also includes regulatory compliance, administrative and enforcement matters, representation of shooting ranges and firearms-industry participants, and advice to nonprofit organizations and associations.

He is a co-author of California Gun Laws: A Guide to State and Federal Firearm Regulations, a comprehensive reference concerning California and federal firearms laws. Michel has also written and lectured on constitutional law, firearms regulation, litigation, environmental law, nonprofit governance, and related legal and public-policy issues.

Michel has been interviewed, quoted, and profiled by national and regional print, broadcast, and online media. Independent profiles of his career and legal work have appeared in publications including California Lawyer, the Los Angeles Daily Journal, and the Daily Breeze. To view his entire media inventory here. Contact the firm here.

Admissions:

United States Court of Appeals

District of Columbia Circuit (2014)
Second Circuit Court of Appeals (2023)
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (2014)
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (2024)
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (2014)
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1991)
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (2014)
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals (2024)

State Bar Associations

California State Bar Association (1989)
Texas State Bar Association (2011)
District of Columbia State Bar Association (2013)

United States District Courts

Southern District of California (2009)
Northern District of California (2004)
Central District of California (1999)

United States Supreme Court

United States Supreme Court (1996)

Selected Profiles

Los Angeles Daily Journal, “Top 100 Lawyers” recognition (2024, 2025, 2026)
Los Angeles Daily Journal, “California’s Triggerman” (2015)
California Lawyer magazine, “Gunfighter” cover profile (February 2015)
Los Angeles Daily Journal, “Ready on the Firing Line” (1997)
Los Angeles Daily Journal, “Gun Rights Warrior Fights for NRA in California” (2008)
Daily Breeze, “Peninsula Lawyer Targets Gun Laws” (2008)

Teaching

Firearms Law, Adjunct Professor, Chapman University Fowler School of Law, Orange, California
Law Practice Management and Technology, Adjunct Professor, Chapman University Fowler School of Law, Orange, California
Judge, Trial Advocacy Competition, Loyola Law School

Honors & Awards

Daily Journal, Top 100 Lawyers in California (2024, 2025, 2026)
Gun Rights Defender of the Year, Second Amendment Foundation (2023)
NRA Defender of Justice Award (2013)
Southern California Super Lawyers, selected annually since 2009
Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Services
James Madison Award for Journalistic Excellence (1997)
United States Supreme Court and West Publishing, National Bicentennial of the Constitution Essay Competition, Ninth Circuit Regional Winner (1987)

Books

California Gun Laws: A Guide to State and Federal Firearm Regulations.
A comprehensive reference concerning California and federal firearms laws.

Articles

Daily Journal Article of Chuck Michel, Daily Journal (September 2024)
CRPA’s Chuck Michel Named 2023 Gun Rights Defender of the Year – CRPA October 24, 2023
Daily Journal Article of C. D. “Chuck” Michel (September 2022)
Daily Journal Article Stand & Litigate (February 2016)
Right to Bear Arms? Gun grabbing sweeping the nation | Fox News, April 13, 2015 (updated May 2016)
Illegal In L.A.: Chuck Michel On the Magazine Ban | An Official Journal Of The NRA (November 24, 2015)
Our Friend, Attorney Chuck Michel, on Cover of California Lawyer – Gun Owners of California (February 20, 2015)
California’s Triggerman, Daily Journal (February, 2015)
Interview with Chuck Michel, the attorney behind the Peruta v. San Diego decision: Guns.com (February 17, 2014)
The Historicity of the Second Amendment Right to Arms, Law Review, May 2013.
Empty Thinking, America’s 1st Freedom, Jan. 2011, at 32.
California Gun-Ban Groups Shred Your Gun Rights, America’s 1st Freedom, Feb. 2010, at 34.
Local Gun Bans in California a Futile Exercise Don B. Kates & C.D. Michel, 41 U.S.F. L. Rev. 333 (2007).
In Your House? Guns in the Home Save Lives, Family Magazine, Jun. 2002.
A Class of Accidental Criminals, LA Daily Journal, Mar. 1998.
Ready On the Firing Line, LA Daily Journal, Sep. 1997.
Arms Defender Not Just Hired Gun

Editorials

Presentations

Michel has given over 100 presentations on constitutional law, firearms regulation, litigation strategy, environmental law, nonprofit governance, and related subjects before bar associations, law schools, professional organizations, advocacy groups, and industry audiences.

Degrees

J.D., Loyola Law School, 1989
SDSU Institute on International and Comparative Law, Magdalen College, Oxford University, 1988
B.A., Rutgers University, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, 1980