Why A RICO Conviction Demands A Specialist, Not A Generalist

When you're facing RICO charges in federal court, the difference between a general practitioner and a federal criminal defense specialist can be measured in years of your life. Here's why.

The Federal System Is Not State Court

A lawyer who practices primarily in state court — handling DUIs, state drug cases, personal injury, or family law — is operating in a fundamentally different system. Federal court has:

• Different rules of evidence — the Federal Rules of Evidence differ from state rules in critical ways
• Different rules of criminal procedure — deadlines, motion practice, discovery obligations, and jury selection all work differently
• The Federal Sentencing Guidelines — a complex, points-based system with no equivalent in most state courts
• U.S. Attorneys, not DAs — federal prosecutors have more resources, more experience, higher conviction rates, and different incentives than state prosecutors
• Federal Bureau of Prisons — if convicted, you serve time in the federal system, where parole was abolished in 1987

What A Federal Specialist Brings

The Cost Of Hiring The Wrong Lawyer

We've seen it repeatedly: a client hires a respected state-court attorney who doesn't understand the Guidelines. They enter a plea without realizing that certain stipulations add 6, 8, or 12 levels to the offense calculation. What looked like a 24-month sentence becomes 72 months. And at that point, the plea is signed, the appeal is waived, and the damage is done.