By: Sara Kropf Late in the afternoon of September 5, 2018, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth declared a mistrial in the second trial of Nicholas Slatten. The jury had been deliberating for a remarkable 16 (!) days when it sent a note saying, “we are unable to...
By: Sara Kropf Last week, I wrote about the somewhat surprising fact that Michael Cohen pleaded guilty, allocated at the plea hearing that President Trump directed him to make an illegal campaign donation, and yet didn’t have a written cooperation agreement. In fact,...
By: Sara Kropf Much was made this week of the fact that Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty without a written cooperation agreement. He pleaded guilty to multiple federal offenses, including tax fraud, campaign finance violations and bank fraud. The...
By: Sara Kropf When I saw the title of the recent article in The Atlantic by Lara Bazelon, “What It Takes To Be a Trial Lawyer, If You’re Not a Man,” I couldn’t wait to read it. I’m a trial lawyer. I’m also a woman. Everyone loves to read about themselves, right?...
By Dan Portnov Here in DC, government contractors are everywhere and vital to keeping nearly all federal agencies running. Absent an Edward Snowden-level scandal, the integration of contractors and their day-to-day work in government offices largely goes unnoticed...
By: Sara Kropf With all the talk in the media about grand jury subpoenas, it’s important to understand that subpoenas aren’t the only way that the government can demand documents and testimony. One of the little-known but often-used methods is a Civil Investigative...
By Dan Portnov Last week I had the pleasure of attending a reception featuring SEC Commissioner Robert Jackson, who spoke about FinTech, ICOs and crypto-assets. Jackson’s prepared comments and subsequent Q&A session were a rare look into one Commissioner’s...
By: Sara Kropf I recently listened to Preet Bharara’s podcast on a long car ride. He’s the former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. After months of conducting interviews of government-side subjects—prosecutors, FBI agents and the like—he...
By Dan Portnov Yesterday, the Supreme Court decided Lucia v. SEC, holding that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s five-member commission must appoint the agency’s Administrative Law Judges (“ALJs”), as these in-house judges are “inferior officers” under the...
By Dan Portnov Late last week the other shoe finally dropped for Theranos founder and ex-CEO Elizabeth Holmes, as she and fellow executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani were indicted on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Following allegations...