White Collar Advice Blog

Questions to Ask a Lawyer Before You Hire One | Chapter 1
“A man who represents himself has a fool for a client — but a man who hires blindly isn’t much better off.”

How to Hire a Lawyer: What Good Lawyers Do Differently
If you’ve never had to hire a lawyer before, you’re not ready for what comes next. Four months after my daughter Alyssa

Estimate Your Sentence With The Federal Sentencing Table
Article 4 of 31 | Series: Federal Sentencing & the Sentence Calculator The first thing most people do after being charged with

How Do The Federal Sentencing Guidelines Work?
Article 3 of 31 | Series: Federal Sentencing & the Sentence Calculator Before I surrendered to Taft Federal Prison Camp on April

Probation Interview: What Most Defendants Get Wrong
When someone is indicted or headed to prison, it’s easy to fixate on one thing: “How do I get the outcome I

How to Prepare for Federal Prison: Ask Better Questions
While visiting my dad last fall—he was recovering from surgery—I got this text: “Interviewing people who can get me out of prison
The White Collar Advice blog helps people under investigation or facing federal sentencing understand the system, avoid mistakes that lead to longer sentences or tougher prison placements, and prepare for prison and reentry.
People under federal investigation, facing sentencing, or preparing for prison who want to build a documented record that shows they are different from the government’s one-sided version of events. Family members who want to understand the process and help a loved one prepare should read it too.
Yes. The blog is based on the combined experience of our team at White Collar Advice, including my time in the system, Michael Santos’s 26 years in federal prison, and the work we’ve done with thousands of people going through investigations, sentencing, and reentry. Everything comes from what we’ve seen and documented over many years.
These blogs teach you how to create assets that do not currently exist to influence cynical stakeholders, like a Federal Judge or Probation Officer.