Michelle Behan

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Michelle Behan is an Honorably Discharged Veteran from the United States Navy, where she served nearly ten years as a Cryptologist. Michelle also worked as a Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation in both South Dakota and Arizona, where she investigated violent crimes on the Indian reservations, crimes against children, and national security crimes.

Michelle is a 2013 graduate of the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. While in law school, Michelle was an active participant in the Veteran’s Advocacy Clinic, where she acted as defense counsel for indigent Veterans charged with criminal misdemeanors. Michelle’s zealous advocacy on behalf of Veterans led to her selection by the Law School Faculty to present an amicus curiae brief (on behalf of the defendant) to the Federal Court of Appeals for the U.S. Armed Forces, the highest military court in the country. She was also awarded the prestigious Darrell K. Soll memorial scholarship, awarded to one student annually who shows great aptitude in the area of criminal defense.

Following graduation, Michelle worked as an Assistant Public Defender at the Tucson City Public Defender’s Office. She has tried several cases to juries, and argued numerous evidentiary and legal hearings involving a variety of different legal issues. For her efforts, Michelle was awarded the 2015 Tucson Women’s Commission Rising Star Award. In 2015, Michelle joined Nesci & St. Louis, P.L.L.C., where she was an associate attorney until forming the leading DUI defense firm of The Behan Law Group in 2017.

Michelle is a member of the National College for DUI Defense and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. As a member of the National College for DUI Defense Amicus Curiae committee, Michelle authored an amicus curiae brief to the Arizona Supreme Court in the matter of the State v. Valenzuela, which argued for a change in police procedures. Michelle is also the attorney of record on a published decision from the Arizona Division Two Court of Appeals in State v. Chopra. Finally, Michelle edited the NCDD Amicus Curiae brief to the United States Supreme Court in Mitchell v. Wisconsin.

Michelle is a member of the faculty of the National College for DUI Defense, and has co-instructed courses on appellate writing and cross-examination at the nationally attended Summer Session held at Harvard Law School. Michelle is a frequent lecturer on the topics of DUI, DRE, and cross-examination, and has taught courses in Tucson, Phoenix, and Chicago. She presented on crime laboratories and ethics to the American Academy of Forensic Scientists at their national conference in February 2019 and to the International Association of Chemical Testers in April of 2019.

Michelle lives with her two sons, her Glock pistol, and a ferocious guard dog in Tucson, Arizona.