• A snowboarding accident resulting in paralysis (recreational accident)
• A citronella fire pot explosion resulting in severe burns and scarring on a schoolteacher’s face, neck, and chest (product liability)
• A governmental immunity case against a shop teacher at a mid-Michigan public high school
• An apartment fire in a Southfield, Michigan complex causing the death of two women and two children (premises liability), and
• An assault and battery case against a reality television producer in Hollywood, California.

A trailblazer in a ‘new era’ of civil rights, Vince takes public sector accountability to a higher level in pursuing justice for victims and their families in civil rights cases, including police shootings, police brutality, deadly force, jailhouse deaths, and premises liability at bars and lounges where death or severe injury has occurred. He has a growing national reputation for taking on tough cases, including the fatal shooting of a 31-year-old unarmed woman by a City of Dearborn Police Officer; a man who was shot and killed by a St. Clair Shores police officer; the shooting of an unarmed teen by a Royal Oak, Michigan police officer; the shooting of a mentally ill man by a Harris County (Texas) Deputy Sheriff; and the ultimate death of a man in a Mt. Clemens, Michigan bar who died following a blow to the head as the security guard watched.

A thought leader in personal injury and civil rights, Vince’s insights are frequently sought by media outlets including the Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, WWJ News Radio 950, Fox2 Detroit, Crain’s Detroit Business, Michigan Lawyers Weekly, and Law 360. He also writes a monthly legal column, Colella in Context, in the Detroit Legal News, exploring such topics as the need to eliminate qualified immunity for police officers.

Vince has served as a member of the Executive Board of the Michigan Association for Justice and is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Michigan, the Detroit Bar Association, and the Oakland County Bar Association. He is certified as a mediator and regularly serves as a Case Evaluator for the Oakland and Wayne County Circuit Court Case Management Offices. In addition to his professional associations, Vince has played rugby for 23 years throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the West Indies, and is currently associated with the Detroit Tradesmen Rugby Football Club. Additionally, he earned a 3rd degree black belt in the martial arts and has spent time teaching defensive tactics to women, children, and police officers. Vince is a charitable supporter of Detroit’s Downtown Boxing Gym and in 2019 established the A. Vince Colella Scholarship to support law students considering a career in civil rights at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, his law school alma mater.