Attorney Referrals

Given the volume and complexity of constantly changing State and Federal law, many attorneys today focus on a specific practice area to narrow their expertise. It is not uncommon therefore that many of our cases come as referrals from other lawyers. In some cases, the referring lawyer does not practice immigration or criminal law at all but has reason to know that our firm often handles a particular type of immigration or criminal case.

In other cases, the referring lawyer handles some types of immigration or criminal cases but not generally the type of criminal case that he or she is referring to us. This is most often the situation where the referring lawyer handles criminal cases in State court but does not handle criminal cases in federal court due to the applicability of somewhat different rules of evidence and procedure. This situation is often appropriate for both our firm and the referring lawyer to handle the case on a co-counsel basis.

Co-counsel Representation

It is often the case that a fellow attorney will ask us to assist with, or take the lead in, the representation of a specific case due to our particularized experience with the type of charge or forum involved in the case. This happens most often in cases involving charges in the federal court system, or in particularized types of federal case, such as cases involving the internet. In State court cases, it is more often the situation that the case involves a serious felony, such as a child sexual abuse, with which we have particularized experience. Very often, the client has a preexisting relationship of trust with the referring lawyer, which can be invaluable in the representation process, whereas we can provided the particularized type of experience necessary to effectively represent the client in that type of a case. We are always most mindful in these situations to assist in preserving the long term relationship between the client and the referring attorney.

Attorney Representation

The scope of our practice over the years has included the representation of other attorneys in court, as well as in disciplinary proceedings. Our experience shows that these can be the most challenging cases of all. Experience has also shown that they can also be the most rewarding of cases in a professional sense.

Immigrant Defense

In light of the recent Supreme Court decision Padilla v. Kentucky (which made inaccurate legal advice about immigration consequences of criminal convictions ineffective assistance of counsel), we have begun to assist criminal defense lawyers throughout the country with evaluating plea offers and criminal defense strategies for immigrant clients (regardless of status).  We can do these legal consulting cases for any lawyer in any jurisdiction due to the federal nature of the statutory interpretations by DHS (ICE) and USCIS.