Law Office Of CHRISTOPHER LEIBIG Criminal Defense
Law Office Of CHRISTOPHER LEIBIG Criminal Defense
Criminal Appeals
Christopher Leibig Highlights
Law Office Of CHRISTOPHER LEIBIG Criminal Defense
Law Office Of CHRISTOPHER LEIBIG Criminal Defense
Christopher Leibig Highlights
Appeals are an academic proposition. When seeking an appellate attorney, one should be considering intellect, sophistication, and patience. One phone call with most firms is enough to tell an educated consumer to move along. If the lawyer mentions the fee, or how to pay, within the first hour, or over the phone, they do not care about winning the case or helping you. It takes many hours to even understand what is involved with each individual appellate case. If the firm is too busy to meet with you to discuss details without being paid, the firm should not be taken seriously for an appeal. Anyone who goes to trial and loses a criminal case is forced to face the reality that his or her freedom, reputation, or both rests on the success of their criminal appeal. Appeals rarely win. Creativity is everything, It’s important that attorneys tell clients the truth about that. Importantly, when we take on an appeal the client will understand the strategy and why it is worth employing before moving forward.
Chris has regularly handled appeals in the Virginia Court of Appeals, the Virginia Supreme Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond. In 2023 he and Meghan Shapiro won reversal of a 25 year Arlington sentence in a child sex abuse case. (Alberto-Rodriguez v. Commonwealth). Some of his other appellate cases include Foltz v. Commonwealth, the first warrantless GPS tracking case in Virginia history, Rogers v. Commonwealth, a death penalty case that resulted in a life sentence; Commonwealth v. Pannell, a case that heightened protections for juveniles charged with probation violations and provoked the General Assembly to change the Juvenile Code; Brown v. Commonwealth, a DWI case reversed by the Virginia Court of Appeals because of faulty breath test procedures; Hernandez v. United States, a case that challenged the federal rule not requiring a jury trial in DWI cases; and, United States v. Jeffery, an appeal of a conviction for a multi-million dollar oil theft scam in Iraq and Commonwealth v. Bjerke, a case challenging the government use of DNA evidence in a genetic genealogy case. The firm handles appeals by charging an initial fee for an extensive review of the record to determine whether the case contains issue meritorious enough to warrant expenditure of the costs for the whole appeal. After such a review,and once a client decides to appeal, the fee can be structured over time.
Appeals are an academic proposition. When seeking an appellate attorney, one should be considering intellect, sophistication, and patience. One phone call with most firms is enough to tell an educated consumer to move along. If the lawyer mentions the fee, or how to pay, within the first hour, or over the phone, they do not care about winning the case or helping you. It takes many hours to even understand what is involved with each individual appellate case. If the firm is too busy to meet with you to discuss details without being paid, the firm should not be taken seriously for an appeal. Anyone who goes to trial and loses a criminal case is forced to face the reality that his or her freedom, reputation, or both rests on the success of their criminal appeal. Appeals rarely win. Creativity is everything, It’s important that attorneys tell clients the truth about that. Importantly, when we take on an appeal the client will understand the strategy and why it is worth employing before moving forward.
Chris has regularly handled appeals in the Virginia Court of Appeals, the Virginia Supreme Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond. In 2023 he and Meghan Shapiro won reversal of a 25 year Arlington sentence in a child sex abuse case. (Alberto-Rodriguez v. Commonwealth). Some of his other appellate cases include Foltz v. Commonwealth, the first warrantless GPS tracking case in Virginia history, Rogers v. Commonwealth, a death penalty case that resulted in a life sentence; Commonwealth v. Pannell, a case that heightened protections for juveniles charged with probation violations and provoked the General Assembly to change the Juvenile Code; Brown v. Commonwealth, a DWI case reversed by the Virginia Court of Appeals because of faulty breath test procedures; Hernandez v. United States, a case that challenged the federal rule not requiring a jury trial in DWI cases; and, United States v. Jeffery, an appeal of a conviction for a multi-million dollar oil theft scam in Iraq and Commonwealth v. Bjerke, a case challenging the government use of DNA evidence in a genetic genealogy case. The firm handles appeals by charging an initial fee for an extensive review of the record to determine whether the case contains issue meritorious enough to warrant expenditure of the costs for the whole appeal. After such a review,and once a client decides to appeal, the fee can be structured over time.
CHRISTOPHER LEIBIG
CHRISTOPHER LEIBIG