The Defense Attorneys: Michael D. Schwartz, 42; William Hadden, 55

Since 2001, Michael D. Schwartz has been an associate attorney at Silver, Hadden, Silver, Wexler and Levine in Santa Monica, where he has represented police officers, firefighters and other public employees in administrative, criminal and civil litigation. He served for one year as a deputy public defender in the Riverside County Public Defender’s Office in 2000 and was a deputy public defender in Ventura County from 1993 and 2000. Before beginning his legal career, he worked in television production in New York as a program coordinator, production assistant and scheduling coordinator for three years after graduating from college. In an upcoming case, Schwartz will defend Riverside County Firefighter Michael Arizaga, who was charged with vehicular manslaughter in a 2005 engine accident that killed a fellow firefighter. He earned his B.A. at Hofstra University in 1987, and his law degree at George Washington University in 1993.

A native of Warwick, Rhode Island, William Hadden joined his Santa Monica-based firm of Silver, Hadden, Silver, Wexler and Levine shortly after graduating from law school. He specializes in cases involving public safety personnel, contract negotiations, administrative discipline and criminal charges. He represented the two of the Riverside police officers who were involved in the shooting death of Tyisha Miller, a 19-year-old black woman who was shot to death by police officers after passing out in her car with a gun in her lap. Police fired at her 24 times -- claiming she had reached for the gun when they broke a window to try to assist her. Hadden also represented one of two Los Angeles police officers, Michael Herrera and Ted Teyechea, who were accused of firing at a CHP officer while drunk and driving along a freeway in 1994 - firing their weapons to “let off steam,” defense attorneys said. He earned his B.A. at Boston University in 1973, and his law degree at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 1981.