About Kenneth Neil
Kenneth Neil Hamilton began his legal path in the late 1990s. He attended Western Sierra Law School beginning in 1998 and earned his J.D. in 2002, completing coursework in Anglo-American Common Law Jurisprudence. That academic training set the stage for a career spent largely on the criminal calendar.
He entered practice in 2002, operating under his own name early on. Those initial years saw him take on a range of matters that would later inform his work as a defense lawyer. In 2006 he joined the Tulare County Public Defender’s office as a deputy public defender. Two years later he moved to Ventura County, serving in the same capacity and handling a high volume of criminal cases at trial and on motion.
The public defender experience gave Hamilton extended courtroom time. He tried cases, conducted evidentiary hearings and worked through the practical pressures of county-level criminal practice. That background also preceded a turn toward DUI defense. In 2015 he opened South Coast DUI Law Center and listed himself as owner and DUI trial lawyer. The move marked a shift from public service to private practice while keeping the trial work central to his daily routine.
Hamilton is licensed to practice in California and is admitted to appear before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He is a certified Criminal Law Specialist through the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. That credential recognizes years of concentrated work in criminal matters and passing a specialist examination administered by the Board.
Professional associations figure in his profile. He has been a member of the California DUI Lawyers Association since 2010. He also joined the National College for DUI Defense in 2015 and maintains membership there. Those affiliations reflect an ongoing engagement with the specific defenses, case law and procedural developments that affect DUI litigation.
Colleagues and opponents describe him as a lawyer who came up through public defense and then chose to apply that trial experience in private DUI work. He runs the South Coast DUI Law Center and handles cases that require courtroom advocacy as well as technical challenges to testing, procedure and evidence. He continues to represent clients in DUI and related criminal matters through the South Coast DUI Law Center.
