English & Smith
Attorneys at Law

Practice Areas

Criminal Defense

Prior to enter private practice, 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 hundreds of 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.  While serving as a Senior Trial Attorney at the Narcotics Section of the Justice Department, Mr. English authored a monograph entitled A Federal Prosecutor's Guide to Bond and Sentencing Issues (1984) which was used in training federal prosecutors.  Prior to the enactment of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines on November 1, 1986 Mr. English served as the Narcotics Section point of contact for the Justice Department and prepared the Department's comments which lead to refinements of the proposed guidelines.  He has used this expertise on a daily basis since the guidelines were enacted to obtain the lowest possible sentences for his clients.  In 2008 Mr. English was retained to represent a defendant who was pending sentencing in the federal court in Alexandria while being represented by another attorney.  Mr. English successfully argued that the career offender guidelines did not apply, an issue which had not been raised by the prior counsel, and saved his client almost 200 months in prison.

Mr. Smith restricts his criminal defense practice to federal cases.  As a former prosecutor in the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice and at the United States Attorney's Office in Alexandria, Virginia, he was involved in complex white collar criminal investigations, trials, and appeals involving defense procurement fraud, false claims, congressional bribery, mail fraud, tax evasion, theft of government property, espionage, false statements and perjury, as well as major narcotics cases.  His knowledge is broadly varied, and includes extensive experience with civil and criminal litigation in the Supreme Court of the United States.   He has a deep understanding of the legal issues that arise in criminal cases and has argued over a hundred federal criminal appeals, many of which produced significant opinions.  Mr. Smith 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 persuasive that the United States Attorney’s Office decided not to oppose it.  Mr. Smith serves on the NACDL Board of Directors and represents the NACDL at meetings of the Over-Criminalization Working Group, which brings together various organizations across the political spectrum that share an interest in criminal justice reform.  The Group is chaired by former Attorney General Edwin Meese, III of the Heritage Foundation.

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Military Law

During his tour of active duty as a Regular Army Captain assigned to the Judge Advocate General's Corps, CPT English served as a trial counsel (prosecutor) and Chief of Military Justice for three years on Okinawa, an extremely busy General Court-Martial jurisdiction during the war in Vietnam.  He then served as an appellate attorney for one year.  Following his discharge from active duty he served as a Defense Attorney, Military Judge, and Staff Judge Advocate for the D.C. Army National Guard until his retirement with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

As a civilian attorney he has won acquittals of active duty members in dozens of Courts-Martial since he left the Justice Department in 1986.  LTC English has tried cases before Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, and Coast Guard General Courts-Martial.  He has also successfully handled non-criminal matters such as administrative elimination boards, physical evaluation boards, and the various services' boards for the correction of military records.

LTC English's military professional education includes graduating from the Army JAGC Basic Officer and Advanced Officer courses, as well as the Navy War College.  His prior military training included USMC boot camp, ITR, and the combat engineer school.  He later graduated from Army ROTC at the University of Virginia where he was initially commissioned as a 2LT.  He was admitted to practice before the courts then known as the Court of Military Appeals in 1973 and the Army Court of Military Review in 1976.

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Money Laundering

“Money laundering” is one of the most frequently charged crimes in federal court. Because the money laundering laws are too broad and reach otherwise innocent activity far removed from the common understanding of “money laundering,” they are often abused by prosecutors seeking to avail themselves of the heavy penalties for laundering convictions.  As money laundering cases are frequently used to obtain criminal and civil forfeiture judgments, Mr. Smith covers the money laundering and structuring statutes in his treatise, Prosecution and Defense of Forfeiture Cases.  He has expertly defended laundering and structuring cases, as well as the forfeitures associated with them.  He was an active member of a task force assembled by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to propose reforms of the money laundering laws, and testified on the need for such reforms before the House Judiciary Committee.

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Restitution and Fines

Federal criminal statutes and the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines provide for mandatory fines and restitution, subject to a defendant’s ability to pay.  18 U.S.C. §3572 and U.S.S.G. §5E1.2 (fines); 18 U.S.C. §§3663A-3664 (restitution).  The government has an arsenal of collection remedies for unpaid fines and restitution.  18 U.S.C. §§3612-3614.  Few defense attorneys have a detailed grasp of these statutes and the case law interpreting them.  Mr. Smith is an expert on fines and restitution, as well as forfeiture.  The law relating to federal fines and restitution is fully covered in the second volume of Mr. Smith’s up to date treatise, Prosecution and Defense of Forfeiture Cases, published by Matthew Bender.

Mr. Smith has represented not only criminal defendants but also large groups of victims seeking restitution or a share of the proceeds forfeited  from defendants in fraud cases.  A victim’s attorney needs to understand the interplay between the government’s forfeiture and restitution remedies and the victim’s rights in each type of case.

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RICO Crimes

The federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, 18 U.S.C. §§1961-1968, is a complex and confusing statute originally targeted at organized crime but used for many other purposes today.  It provides severe criminal penalties and also authorizes private plaintiffs to sue “racketeers” for treble damages.

Mr. Smith is the co-author (with Terry Reed) of a frequently cited treatise on the RICO statute, Civil RICO, published by Matthew Bender.  The book covers criminal prosecutions as well as private, civil litigation under the RICO law.  It is updated twice each year.

Mr. Smith has represented plaintiffs and defendants in civil RICO suits.  He has prosecuted and defended a number of criminal RICO cases, and handled many appeals in RICO cases.  Mr. English has also defended a number of criminal RICO cases.

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Call 1-703-548-8911