negotiations

Plea negotiations -- better called settlement negotiations, because a dismissal is a better settlement than a negotiated conviction -- are a stark reality of criminal defense. As a Fairfax criminal and DUI lawyer, I know that attorneys who do not want to engage in...

Preliminary hearings in Virginia are an opportunity for the criminal defense lawyer to challenge "whether there is reasonable ground to believe that he committed" the alleged felony(ies). Va. Code § 19.2-218. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know how important is the preliminary hearing date...

Navigating around potential Virginia DUI sentencing pitfalls is essential for a criminal defense lawyer. As a Virginia DUI lawyer, I look not only at ways to obtain an acquittal, but also at the DWI sentencing risks in the event of a conviction. Those risks might...

Negotiations are typically a critical part of criminal defense, always from a position of trial readiness. As a Fairfax criminal attorney, I know that negotiations are not always about seeking a guilty/ no contest/ Alford plea deal versus working to convince the prosecutor to dismiss...

Great persuaders and negotiators know how to reach across the aisle to work with people who harbor plenty of opposing views. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know the persuasive value of setting aside political and personal differences to persuade others and to gain essential...

Discretion of prosecutors- Fairfax criminal lawyer weighs in Discretion of prosecutors in settlement negotiations, providing discovery beyond what is required by the governing rules, and trial stipulations can change from Virginia county to county, case to case, prosecutor to prosecutor, and moment to moment.

Virginia DUI lawyer on getting to firm ground after a DUI arrest. Virginia DUI charges call for full and skilled defense. As a Virginia DUI lawyer following up on the first of this two-part article (entitled "Beware DUI guilty plea consequences"), I resume by addressing...

Negotiating criminal cases can be like a game of chicken. Variations of the game of chicken include riding one's bicycle towards the opponent, to see if the bike rider or pedestrian will move out of the way first. Another variation is throwing a knife at...

Settlement negotiations are an essential part of most criminal defense work, whether the negotiations seek an outright dismissal, continuance for possible dismissal with or without dismissal conditions, or any other number of resolutions right up to convictions involving amended or dropped charges and/or agreements as...