When Lisa B. Kirsch Satawa was 12 years old, her family drove to Lansing to see her uncle get sworn in to the State Bar of Michigan. Upon witnessing this officious occasion, Satawa turned to her parents and informed them that someday, she, too, would be a lawyer.

“I didn’t even know what that meant,” she says. “But I loved the pomp and circumstance, the oath. It resonated with me that this is what ‘good’ people do.”

Since that day, she has taken her own personal oath to heart. After studying journalism and economics in college, she moved to New York City to pursue investment banking, but her desire to “do good” was always nagging at her. She returned to Michigan to attend law school, before becoming a prosecutor, then a public defender, where she found her place to continue her oath.

“I saw cases where parents were getting railroaded,” Satawa says. “I wanted to help make a difference in a parent’s life. So I studied all that I could about abuse, sexual assault, children, development and linguistics, so I can help to make a difference every minute of every day, to make the world a better place.” She is driven by seeing the horror of innocent or falsely accused people going to prison because of bad lawyering. “It is our responsibility to society, to the public and to ourselves to prevent this tragedy with competence, and integrity to ensure justice is accomplished,” she says.

In 2016, Satawa founded Kirsch Daskas Law Group (Kdlawgroup.com) with lifelong friend Christina Daskas, who passed away two years later. Last May, Satawa opened the group’s new location in Bloomfield Hills, where she lives with her husband, Mark, a criminal defense attorney with whom she has two adult children.

“Our mission when founding the firm was to prevent wrongful conviction by defending against false allegations, one client at a time,” Satawa says. “Our vision was to train, mentor and grow young lawyers into great lawyers who understand at their core the importance of excellent and ethical advocacy, to holistically reframe the perception of our clients from the person accused to the human — mom, dad, son, employer, brother, student and member of a community. We want them to be seen as human, not just the name on the other side of the ‘v.’

“I have a passion for doing the right thing and being a defense attorney is exactly that: It is bringing issues of unfairness or violations of right to the forefront.”

Today, KDLG has four full-time attorneys, including Satawa, plus one contract attorney, all continuing to work to achieve the founders’ goal. “We are a team of learners and mentors,” she says. “I feel like I am more of a mentor now than in the past, and it makes me proud to see everyone on my team armed to succeed.”

She carries this mission with her at all times. In 2023, KDLG “adopted” the family of a permanently disabled veteran single mom with four children, including a baby needing a thymus transplant and another child with autism. “We were able to furnish their apartment, provide air purifiers and fulfill not only their Christmas wish list but also what is needed for home-schooling,” Satawa says. The firm also provides discounted rates to veterans and individuals in recovery.    

The recipient of countless awards — including being recently named one of Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2023 Influential Women of Law and the Right To Counsel Award from the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan, which is the highest honor a criminal attorney can receive — and member of equally countless organizations, many as board member, Satawa points to one of her most proud moments as an attorney: Working with the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic and Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions, she successfully achieved exoneration for a man serving life in prison for a wrongful conviction, based on a false confession and untestable DNA evidence. He had already served 18 years.

In her work life and personal life, Satawa is consumed with helping people unable to speak for themselves, and benefiting the community by protecting what matters most. “My clients find themselves at risk of losing their liberty, their children and family, their employment and professional licensure. They are scared.

“I am the first person since their problem arose who is unequivocally on their side. I listen, strategize, humanize and try to bear the worry so they can have peace of mind,” she says. “I speak for my clients when they don’t have a voice and are trying to navigate an unknown system where they are protected by rights they are not familiar with. I carry the Constitution high over my head every day. I do what I do because it is the right thing and justice must be achieved.”