Attorneys

We have sat on every side of the table.

A former prosecutor, a former federal defender, a former securities regulator, a former security engineer and a former compliance officer. Between them, they know how each side of a federal matter thinks.

Founding partner

Margaret Ostrander

Grand jury matters, fraud investigations, trials

Before the firm: eleven years as a federal prosecutor handling fraud and public corruption cases.

Margaret spent eleven years as an Assistant United States Attorney before founding the firm. She knows how an investigation looks from the other side of the table, and she uses that to tell clients early, and honestly, what the government is likely to do next.

She leads most of the firm's pre-charge work and has tried more than twenty federal jury trials as a prosecutor and defense lawyer.

Founding partner

Daniel Vail

Trials, sentencing, appeals

Before the firm: nine years as an assistant federal public defender.

Daniel began his career defending people in federal court as an assistant federal public defender. He has handled hundreds of federal cases from first appearance through sentencing, and he still reads every presentence report line by line.

He leads the firm's trial and sentencing work and teaches a sentencing advocacy seminar for newer defense lawyers.

Partner

Priya Raman

Securities matters, internal investigations, parallel proceedings

Before the firm: seven years as an enforcement attorney at a federal securities regulator.

Priya represents companies, boards and executives when a regulator and a prosecutor are both asking questions. Before joining the firm she spent seven years in enforcement at a federal securities regulator.

She leads the firm's internal investigations and advises audit committees on remediation and self-reporting decisions.

Counsel

Julian Okafor

Computer crimes, device searches, digital evidence

Before the firm: worked as a security engineer before law school.

Julian wrote software and ran incident response for a payments company before he went to law school. He handles the firm's computer crime matters and works directly with our independent forensic examiners.

Clients who are developers and IT professionals tend to appreciate that he reads logs and tool reports himself.

Of counsel

Helen Brandt

Healthcare fraud, billing investigations, licensing

Before the firm: served as chief compliance officer for a regional health system.

Helen spent eight years as a hospital system's chief compliance officer before returning to private practice. She represents physicians, practice owners and billing companies in investigations and audits.

She coordinates the criminal, civil and licensing tracks that healthcare matters almost always involve.

Behind the lawyers

The people who keep the record straight.

Ruth Ellison

Investigator

Retired federal agent with 20 years of financial investigations; interviews witnesses for the defense.
Tomas Ferreira

Discovery manager

Runs the review database where every page of discovery is loaded, tagged and searched.

Our lawyers are admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, and before federal district and appellate courts where their cases have required it. When a matter is in a court where none of us is admitted, we apply for permission to appear or work with local counsel. Two associates also work on larger matters under a partner's direction.

Confidential consultation

The right lawyer depends on the matter.

Tell us in general terms what happened. We will tell you who would lead your matter and why, before you commit to anything.

Request a consultation (202) 555-0148

Please do not send case details through any website form or by email. We cover them by phone or in person, under privilege.

Consultation line: 7 days, 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. If a search or an arrest is happening now, call at any hour.