Varghese & Associates: 2013 Recap & 2014 Outlook

Fighting for the Integrity of the Legal Profession

In 2013, we yet again received significant recognition from the press, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Crain’s New York Business, and the New York Law Journal. In December, theNew York Law Journal in a series of articles covered a deeply controversial subpoena issued by the Manhattan District Attorney, summoning us to appear before a grand jury to discuss a privileged interview with a witness, while the DA in an anNSA-like maneuver, actually seized privileged attorney-client emails.

Never one to back down from injustice, we fought the subpoena and the DA withdrew it. We were allied with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Legal Aid Society. The DA’s subpoena was a wanton act of intimidation with constitutional implications that threatened the role of the criminal defense bar nationwide and the integrity of the legal profession as a whole. We fought them and the DA withdrew the subpoena.

Battling Government Overreach

2013 also saw the firm involved in another case of major consequence, defending a city councilman in one of the most important political prosecution proceedings of our time. We have challenged the government’s attempt to bootstrap lawful activity into federal criminal acts, even in the absence of state and federal law. Our firm continues to act on the belief that criminal lawyers are the first responders in the fight for individual freedom.

Providing Continuing Legal Education

While the year was filled with other crucial proceedings, including the defense of a high-profile insider trading case, and a national security case in Washington D.C., we’ve dedicated ourselves not only to action, but to education as well. We were honored to speak on a landmark webinar on white-collar crime, hosted by the New York Law Journal.

We also spoke on a similar panel at Columbia Law School, and at the 2013 Corporate Whistleblowing Forum presented by Thomson Reuters. We were humbled and pleased by the invitations to participate in such high-level discourses. While 2013 was an exciting year, in 2014, we will continue to defend our clients and fight government overreach.