News & Articles

Approximately two years before COVID-19 reached our shores, Congress passed the First Step Act (“FSA”)—a federal law authorizing incarcerated individuals to file compassionate release motions on their own behalf.

While fentanyl and fentanyl analogue offenders still make up a small proportion of federal drug trafficking defendants, the number of offenders have sharply increased over the last few years, and defendants are facing high sentences. In January of 2021, the United...

A recent decision in the Third Circuit totally changed the playing field for criminal history in federal criminal matters, as well as in firearm offenses. In United States v. Nasir No. 18-2888, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 37489, *53 (3d Cir. Dec. 1, 2020), the Third...

OVERVIEW AND SUMMARY OF FIRST STEP ACT My clients frequently ask me questions about the First Step Act (the “Act”) that was signed into law in December 2018, and how it changes existing laws as well as how it will affect their case or sentence. This is a brief summary...

Last Month I had the privilege of representing my client, a Customs and Border Patrol Agent, who was charged in federal court in the District of New Jersey.   My client and his co-defendant were charged with two counts each of the federal crime of assaulting other...

Federal criminal defense involves not only fighting for clients before and at the initial charging stage, but also fighting for them in relation to bail, with plea agreements, at sentencing and on appeal. In the last few months, Lorraine Gauli-Rufo has been able to...