What Interested You In Choosing Criminal Defense Law?

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I decided to go into criminal law because I wanted to go into an area of law where I could help people on a very personal, one-to-one level. When I started law school, I knew immediately after taking tax law and business law classes that I did not want to practice corporate law. I had no interest being in a big skyscraper downtown, going over documents, reading dry legal contracts, and not seeing anybody except other lawyers for weeks at a time.

I knew that criminal law was what I was really interested in, so after graduation I started working for the district attorney’s office. I really enjoyed trying cases to juries and helping crime victims. My criminal defense practice really is just a different form of that.

People who have been charged with crimes need help. They need lawyers who are willing and able to sit down with them, listen to their problems, listen to their struggles, reassure them that everything is going to be okay, and walk them through what is a difficult and scary system. The entire reason that I got into criminal law- both as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney- was to help see people through what is usually the most difficult thing that they’ve gone through in their lives.