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“"Justin and his team at White Collar Advice have been a true godsend for me and our family. At a time when no one should have to walk this path alone on anything from picking the best, most experienced, compassionate sentencing attorney to mitigation strategies for the best possible outcome, to mapping a plan for our family, no matter what happens with sentencing and appeal. No one should walk this path alone whether you or a loved one is facing the legal system. Justin and his team are with you every step of the way.”
How do you choose a federal criminal defense attorney?
If someone in your family has just been charged federally, you are doing two jobs at once. You are trying to find a lawyer. You are also trying to keep the house running while nobody can tell you what happens next.
The Khalid family was doing both when they met with our team. Afterward, Ayesha Khalid's eldest daughter turned to her family and said:
"No matter what happens at the hearing, we now have a plan and I feel that we are not alone."
Nobody had told her what the judge would do. She knew what her family was going to do next. Your family can get there this week, long before anyone knows the number.
Your first decision: the lawyer
Every other decision runs through the defense attorney. Counsel reads the evidence, explains the options, negotiates with prosecutors, writes the filings, and stands up in court. Your family can't do that work, and neither can we.
The Khalids needed someone who knew federal court and federal sentencing. We introduced them to Mark Werksman, a Los Angeles defense attorney who served as a Deputy District Attorney and an Assistant United States Attorney before he started defending people. Mark has worked with our team since 2009:
"WCA has been an invaluable partner since 2009, guiding my clients through sentencing and prison with practical strategies and firsthand knowledge."
You may not end up with Mark. You will end up across a desk from someone, deciding whether to trust them with your family's future. Bring these questions:
- How many federal cases have you handled in this district?
- Have you handled these specific charges?
- Who will work the case day to day, and who will appear in court?
- How do you approach sentencing, and when do you start preparing for it?
- How will you communicate with the family, within the client's wishes and your confidentiality obligations?
- What does the scope of representation cover, and what are the fees?
Write the answers down while they talk. Compare them side by side before anyone signs a retainer. A lawyer who can't tell you who will handle the case day to day has already answered a question.
The questions that start after you hire counsel
Hiring a lawyer settles one question. The Khalids still had a list, and yours will look a lot like it.
What happens in the presentence investigation? What can relatives give the defense team? What does the household budget look like if one income disappears? What do we tell the children? How do visits and phone calls work if the judge imposes prison?
Some of those belong to your lawyer: anything about legal rights, court procedure, or what gets submitted to the judge. The rest belong to your family. Money, schedules, records, what the kids hear and when. Those don't wait for the hearing, and nobody else is going to answer them for you.
We talked through that list with the Khalids before any hearing had taken place.
Try this at your kitchen table tonight. Draw a line down a page. Lawyer questions on the left, family questions on the right. Take the left column to your next attorney meeting. Start on the right column tomorrow morning.
What you can build while the lawyer works
Records. Counsel will ask for employment history, household obligations, and the names of relatives who depend on the person facing sentencing. Lawyers often ask late. A family with a folder ready doesn't lose a week digging through drawers.
Character letters. If you write one, write about something you saw: a specific day, a specific conversation, a specific thing your father or sister or husband did when it would have been easier not to. "He is a good man" gives a judge nothing to hold. Your defense attorney decides which letters go in and how they fit the strategy, so write it and hand it over.
A release plan. Where will your loved one live? How will family relationships and work hold together? What does the household do during any period of incarceration? Write the answers down, even rough ones. A plan on paper can be discussed with counsel. A plan in someone's head can't.
Whatever the judge decides, your family will already have talked it through.
What Ayesha wrote afterward
"Justin and his team at White Collar Advice have been a true godsend for me and our family. At a time when no one should have to walk this path alone on anything from picking the best, most experienced, compassionate sentencing attorney to mitigation strategies for the best possible outcome, to mapping a plan for our family, no matter what happens with sentencing and appeal. No one should walk this path alone whether you or a loved one is facing the legal system. Justin and his team are with you every step of the way."
Look at what she lists: choosing the attorney, mitigation, a plan for the family no matter what happens at sentencing and appeal. She doesn't mention a number of months. There wasn't one yet.
What they left with
There is no sentence, guideline range, or ruling to report here. The Khalids came in with a lawyer to find and a list of fears. They left with a referral to experienced counsel, a plan for the household, and a daughter who said out loud that they weren't alone.
Before the week is out, sit down with two defense attorneys and ask each of them all six questions. If the family column still scares you more than the lawyer column, bring it to a $500 diagnostic call with me, and we'll work through it together.
Thank you,
Justin Paperny
Written by
Justin Paperny
Founder White Collar Advice