NY White-Collar Criminal Defense Firms? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know of any good white-collar criminal defense firms in New York. V10 fourth-year wondering what other kind of firms are out there, and who does good work. I've heard good things about Morvillo Abramowitz and Lankler Siffert. Anyone else do good work in this area?

[Anonymous User]

Many.

MoloLamken
Petrillo Klein
Levine Lee
Krieger Kim
Spears & Imes
Walden Macht

[Anonymous User]

Many.

MoloLamken
Petrillo Klein
Levine Lee
Krieger Kim
Spears & Imes
Walden Macht

Wow, thanks the list is helpful. Do you know if any of these specialize in trial work versus investigations? I feel like it's hard to distinguish firms who emphasize one versus the other.

[LBJ's Hair]

Many.

MoloLamken
Petrillo Klein
Levine Lee
Krieger Kim
Spears & Imes
Walden Macht

Wow, thanks the list is helpful. Do you know if any of these specialize in trial work versus investigations? I feel like it's hard to distinguish firms who emphasize one versus the other.

If you want to make a career in NY white collar trial work, think spending a few years at SDNY/EDNY is like, necessary, albeit not sufficient?

(Maybe necessary too strong a word, but definitely would be my #1 on list of jobs to leave to at this stage in your career?)

[Anonymous User]

Many.

MoloLamken
Petrillo Klein
Levine Lee
Krieger Kim
Spears & Imes
Walden Macht

Wow, thanks the list is helpful. Do you know if any of these specialize in trial work versus investigations? I feel like it's hard to distinguish firms who emphasize one versus the other.

If you want to make a career in NY white collar trial work, think spending a few years at SDNY/EDNY is like, necessary, albeit not sufficient?

(Maybe necessary too strong a word, but definitely would be my #1 on list of jobs to leave to at this stage in your career?)

OP here, yeah I definitely agree. SDNY/EDNY AUSA gigs are pretty competitive though, no? I mean that's 100% the ultimate goal and I'll likely be applying to those positions in parallel, but the likelihood that someone like me (T20 -> V10 Litigation (No Clerkship)) snags an AUSA position in those jurisdictions is pretty slim. Figured it may be worth it to get some relevant experience at a firm that specializes in similar work so I can at least develop the relevant skills to be competent.

I could be off-base, but the general knowledge you gain from a biglaw litigation practice is useful (I now know a little too much of the drudgery of discovery, for example) but I'd like to learn more about the work that goes into preparing for and putting on a criminal trial (whether that be white-collar or something else).

I haven't thought this all through very much, so feel free to critique away.

[Anonymous User]

I think the main problem is that the firms listed above are also long shots with T20 no clerkship. They are significantly more selective than V10 lit shops.

[Anonymous User]

I think the main problem is that the firms listed above are also long shots with T20 no clerkship. They are significantly more selective than V10 lit shops.

[Anonymous User]

Many.

MoloLamken
Petrillo Klein
Levine Lee
Krieger Kim
Spears & Imes
Walden Macht

Wow, thanks the list is helpful. Do you know if any of these specialize in trial work versus investigations? I feel like it's hard to distinguish firms who emphasize one versus the other.

There may be differences in number/frequency of trials, but all of these firms will do a lot of investigations. Generally speaking the trials arise out of the investigations.

For other firms, look at the Chambers list of white collar practitioners/firms in NYC and focus on the boutiques.

As for clerkships—I agree that a clerkship will really help for these firms. Doesn’t mean it is required, but look at their associate bios to get a good sense.

[hicrhodus]

I interviewed at Morvillo and my impression was that they very rarely went to trial except in pro bono/CJA cases and most of their work was not criminal defense in the way I understood it (and often involved a lot of parallel civil litigation to a criminal investigation such as securities defense work). To make partner there, it seemed like you have to be an AUSA first. As well, the most common exit for their associates seemed to be to USAOs. No idea how typical all that is for the firms on the preceding list but I suspect it is common. There are at least some smaller firms that do white-collar defense work and go to trial more often, however--Kaplan Hecker, Haftez Nacheles and Chaudry Law are some that come to mind in NYC though the last two are very small. But if your goal is to become an AUSA a firm that specializes in investigations may serve you just as well as one that specializes in trials; what you do if you're conducting an investigation of a co. is probably closer to what you'd be doing as an AUSA.

[lawfan2012]

I think it also depends on what OP meant by “investigations.” The firms in this thread will represent a lot of individuals from the investigation stage (be it criminal, civil, or parallel) forward. Most of those individuals will not end up going to trial (criminal or civil) for a variety of reasons (the individual is a witness; the government doesn’t move forward; the individual cooperates; etc.). Some small percentage of individual representations will result in a trial. Even a firm with a lot of trials will also have a lot of clients who don’t go to trial.

These firms generally won’t do a ton of investigations in the sense of representing a company in a large internal investigation.