Mr. English and Mr. Smith served as federal prosecutors with the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria. The firm emphasizes the defense of federal criminal cases but also takes on state criminal matters and military courts-martial.

Mr. English’s practice focuses on vigorous advocacy during trials and appeals. He has tried hundreds of felony cases and represented clients in over one hundred appeals. He has won many acquittals over the years in a wide variety of cases in state and federal courts. He also expertly defends military courts-martial, utilizing his prior experience as both a trial counsel (the military term for prosecutor) and defense attorney in the United States Army.

Mr. Smith has argued over a hundred federal criminal appeals, many of which produced significant opinions. He has also litigated a number of substantial post-conviction motions to vacate convictions or sentences under 28 U.S.C. §2255. In one such case he won freedom for a wrongly convicted Richmond car dealer who was serving a ten year federal sentence for money laundering. The lengthy motion to vacate the conviction was so powerful that the United States Attorney’s Office decided not to oppose it.