MICHAEL PETRO

Founding Partner

Mike is an experienced trial attorney with extensive experience trying criminal and personal injury cases. Over his 35 years as a practicing attorney Mike has tried hundreds of jury trials. He knows the local judges and prosecutors, and he has gotten successful outcomes for many, many clients.

Mike graduated with his Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University in 1983 and was admitted to the Utah State Bar in April 1984. Since then Mike has worked in private practice at various law firms in Utah County, until he founded Petro & Nielsen (now Petro & Aston) in July 2010. Mike has successfully presented oral arguments and written briefs before the Utah Court of Appeals and the Utah Supreme Court. 

Memberships: Mike is a member of the Utah State Bar, the Central Bar Association, Utah Trial Lawyers Association, American Trial Lawyers Association, American Bar Association, National College for DUI Defense, and America Inns of Court.

Legal Committees: Mike has served on the Utah County Public Defenders Board of Directors (1993-Present); the Selection Committee, Justice of the Peace (1996), and the Judicial Nominating Commission Fourth District Court (2000-2001).

Honors: Mike was a visiting professor at the Leavitt Institute for International Development in Kiev, Ukraine; has an AV-Peer Review Rating on Martindale-Hubble, and has been selected as a member of Utah Legal Elite in Criminal Law Utah Business Magazine in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2017. 

LEAH ASTON

Partner

Leah Aston graduated Summa Cum Laude from Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School in 2016. While in law school Leah won the award for best first year appellate brief, and she was also named Best Oralist in the 2014 Rex E. Lee Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Competition. She went on to represent BYU at the ABA’s National Appellate Competition. In 2015, Leah externed at the Utah Supreme Court. She also has a Master’s Degree in English from Brigham Young University, where she taught writing and rhetoric for several years. Leah has been a partner at Petro & Aston since 2020.

EVA BRADY

Associate

Eva graduated with a law degree from the J. Reuben Clark School of Law in 2016 and immediately thereafter began work with the Utah County Public Defenders' Association as a conflict attorney in the juvenile court, which she continues to do to this day.  Eva also began work for Petro & Aston in May of 2017 as an associate focusing on criminal defense.  Eva has taught at BYU as an adjunct professor at the law school from 2016 to 2017, teaching a class that focuses on helping at-risk populations, especially youth in the juvenile justice system.