Federal criminal defense is a specialty. Not every criminal defense lawyer practices it, and not every lawyer who practices it practices it with equivalent experience. The lawyer who handled your business litigation, the attorney…
The request for an interview is not a formality. It is a step in an investigation that has been proceeding without your knowledge. When FBI agents request an interview, whether by appearing at your…
The presentence report is the document the judge reads most carefully before announcing the sentence. It is also the document the defendant most often encounters for the first time too late to contest it…
The nickname is informal and the protection it implies is partial. Understanding the distinction between the two is the beginning of understanding what a proffer agreement actually provides. A federal proffer agreement is a…
The grand jury room is not a courtroom. It only resembles one from the outside. Most people who have not appeared before a federal grand jury carry a mental image drawn from trial proceedings:…
Several things happen. None of them favor you. The person who speaks to federal agents without counsel present has made a unilateral decision to enter an information exchange in which one party possesses the…
The right exists at every stage. Most people exercise it at the worst possible moment, which is the moment after they have already spoken. The Fifth Amendment's protection against compelled self-incrimination is the foundational…
The category you occupy at the beginning of an investigation is not the category you will necessarily occupy at its conclusion. The Department of Justice recognizes three formal designations within a federal grand jury…
They arrive in similar envelopes. They produce similar fear. They require entirely different responses. A grand jury subpoena and a target letter are both instruments of federal investigation, but they signal different positions within…
Cooperation is a legal mechanism with defined terms and consequences. It is not a disposition. The question of whether to cooperate with a federal investigation is among the most consequential decisions a person under…