Best Lawyers in California, United States for Criminal Defense: White-Collar
Select a city from the list below to find the best legal talent for your needs.
Cities
Jessica K. Nall is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Criminal Defense: White-Collar. Jessica K., who practices law in San Francisco, California, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Jessica K. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Jack DiCanio’s litigation practice focuses on complex litigation, white collar defense, securities litigation and special corporate investigations. Mr. DiCanio has extensive trial experience representing corporate and individual clients in a variety of civil and criminal actions involving: internal corporate investigations; federal and state securities litigation, including broker/dealer liability; securities fraud, including allegations of accounting improprieties, material misrepresen...
Hans’s practice focuses on high-stakes criminal and civil matters. He has extensive experience in the representation of clients who, because of their visibility, face significant reputational and professional harm on the mere accusation that they have committed a crime or engaged in wrongdoing. Hans’s work for these clients has traversed a range of industries, including sports, music and entertainment, business, and social media. He has successfully prevented authorities from fili...
John Bartko is a Founder and a Principal of the firm. He represents both plaintiffs and defendants in complex civil, criminal and regulatory matters. He has represented many executives ensnared in complex regulatory investigations and has been involved in significant international discovery and complex investigations requiring foreign court appearances, including conducting examinations in Switzerland and Japan through pioneering requests for civil judicial assistance. He has traveled to Euro...
Jan Handzlik is an accomplished investigations and trial lawyer with a national and international practice. He represents individuals and organizations in investigations, prosecutions, regulatory actions and complex civil litigation in the United States and abroad. He conducts corporate internal investigations, represents clients in multinational investigations, and advises domestic and foreign clients on law compliance and risk avoidance. An experienced trial lawyer, Jan has tried well over ...
Peter Morris is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Criminal Defense: White-Collar. Peter, who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Peter is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Angela Machala is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation and Criminal Defense: White-Collar. Angela, who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2022. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Angela is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Thomas R. Freeman is a principal at Bird Marella and a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law. His practice is focused on civil litigation at the trial and appellate levels, and criminal appeals. He is certified as an appellate specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization and has argued countless cases before federal and state appellate courts and case-dispositive motions before trial courts. Tom has handled a broad range of complex matters, including...
Vincent Marella is a founding partner of Bird Marella, and has more than 30 years of experience representing clients in federal criminal prosecutions and related complex civil litigation. A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Vince represents corporations and individuals in grand jury investigations and post-indictment proceedings with a particular emphasis on representing high-level corporate officers and executives in criminal prosecutions, and parallel administrative and civil...
Richard Kaplan is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Criminal Defense: General Practice and Criminal Defense: White-Collar. Richard, who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Richard is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Thomas “Tom” H. Bienert, Jr. is a highly experienced trial attorney who handles the spectrum of litigation matters. After spending ten years as a federal prosecutor and two years at a national law firm, Tom founded Bienert Katzman Littrell Williams LLP (BKLW) in 2000 and steadily grew the firm to its current size through the addition of other trial attorneys. Since starting the firm, he has obtained many multi-million dollar verdicts for plaintiffs in civil cases, multiple zero-su...
Ken Julian represents companies and individuals in civil and criminal cases and governmental investigations. He has prevailed in matters involving allegations of insider trading, healthcare fraud, financial fraud, false claims, price fixing, FDA violations and environmental contamination. He has represented Fortune 500 companies, corporate executives, physicians and attorneys. His clients include a former Major League Baseball player and a worldwide film star. Colleagues have described him as...
Ariel Neuman is a trial lawyer who clients turn to for their most high-profile civil cases and criminal investigations. A former Assistant United States Attorney, his work includes defending a Fortune 150 company against criminal charges at trial, representing members of Congress in relation to grand jury investigations, leading an internal investigation for a major league sports franchise, and defending the largest minority-owned brokerage firm in a high-stakes business dispute. For over a d...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.