Our office in Washington, DC is located at 1717 Pennsylvania Avenue, very close to the White House and many other federal government offices.
Most of our federal criminal cases in Washington, DC are heard in the federal district court at 333 Constitution Avenue in the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse. If you are charged with a federal crime in DC, this is where you can expect most of your court appearances to be held. In this courthouse, federal judges conduct first appearances, detention hearings, motions hearings, pleas, and sentencing hearings.
We also assist clients in the DC area with federal criminal appeals. If the case is being appealed in the District of Columbia Circuit, it will generally be decided by a panel of judges located at 333 Constitution Avenue in the William B. Bryant Annex.
If you have a criminal appeal pending in the DC Circuit, you may never need to actually go to the courthouse. Most federal criminal appeals are decided “on the briefs.” That means that there are no hearings or required appearances. In some cases, our lawyers are able to participate in “oral arguments” before a panel of judges in the DC Circuit Court to try and convince them of the merits of or appeals. Of course, a client may attend those arguments, but an appearance is not required.
Our DC office allows our federal criminal lawyers close access to the many law enforcement agencies that are involved in federal prosecutions nationwide. In our experience, many federal criminal investigations are controlled out of DC, even if the actual case may be pending in a district on the other side of the country.
The federal government is a big bureaucracy and having our defense attorneys at the heart of this bureaucracy gives us access to high-level decision makes at the U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies. Our relationships with these decision makers can often benefit our clients who are targets of a criminal investigation. In some cases, we can convince the government not to pursue the case. In other cases, we may be able to convince them that a local US Attorney’s Office is not treating our client fairly or consistent with current Justice Department policies. In our experience, having a presence in DC helps in almost all serious federal cases.
To speak with a federal criminal lawyer in Washington, DC please contact us first by phone or text. Office hours at our DC office are by appointment only.
