Best Lawyers in New York, United States for Criminal Defense: White-Collar
Suzanne Jaffe Bloom is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Criminal Defense: White-Collar and Qui Tam Law. Suzanne Jaffe, who practices law in New York, New York, has been recognized since 2021. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Suzanne Jaffe is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Chris Gunther has more than 15 years of experience defending individuals and corporations in federal and state criminal investigations and inquiries by government regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, Mr. Gunther served as an assistant United States attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where he tried many cases and argued frequently before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. His trial experience as a prosecutor and defense a...
Boyd Johnson serves as the Co-Chair of the White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice and the Partner-in-Charge of the firm’s New York Office. Leveraging 30 years of public and private sector experience, Mr. Johnson represents companies and senior executives in criminal investigations, regulatory enforcement matters, and civil litigations. Over the past three decades, Mr. Johnson has served in a variety of senior roles, including Co-Chair of WilmerHale’s White Collar Defense...
Guy is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He represents clients in civil and criminal litigation and investigations, regulatory enforcement matters, antitrust proceedings and independent investigations. He has also served as an arbitrator and as counsel in commercial arbitrations, bankruptcy court matters, including trustee and examiner investigations and adversary actions, and in mediations. Guy was named as a Best Lawyers 2026 ‘Lawyer of the Year’ for Criminal De...
For more than thirty-five years, Bryan C. Skarlatos has represented corporations and individuals in sensitive matters, many of which involve negotiation or litigation with government agencies. He has significant experience in federal and state tax audits, appeals and litigation, criminal tax investigations, and white-collar criminal prosecutions. Mr. Skarlatos also has an active practice providing tax and estate planning advice. Mr. Skarlatos is often retained to evaluate the strength of tax ...
Steve is the founding partner and chair of the Personal Injury and Criminal Defense practices at O’Connell and Aronowitz. Under his leadership, our firm has become one of the most active personal injury and criminal defense law firms in upstate New York. Few lawyers in the area have excelled in both the personal injury and criminal defense fields. With over thirty five years of experience at the state and federal levels, Steve is considered one of the most successful trial lawyers in th...
Joanna uses her experience as a trial lawyer and former prosecutor to help clients navigate complex legal landscapes. A skillful courtroom advocate, and accomplished in criminal, regulatory, and civil litigation, Joanna provides sophisticated, strategic counsel and drives extraordinary results for individual and institutional clients. She is known for her fierce advocacy, her courtroom skills and for her sophisticated, strategic counsel. With a career spanning nearly 30 years, Joanna represen...
Caren Decter is a partner in the Litigation Group, with nearly 20 years of experience representing clients in the advertising, art, consumer goods, and media and entertainment industries on intellectual property and complex contractual disputes, as well as consumer class actions and white collar criminal matters. She is recognized by Best Lawyers in America (2024-2025), The Legal 500 (2024) and Super Lawyers (2021-2023) as a leading lawyer in her field. Clients benefit from her skill in manag...
Lawrence S. Spiegel has more than two decades of experience advising individuals and corporations in complex criminal and civil matters. He has represented corporations, their directors, officers and employees in cases involving allegations of mail and wire fraud, securities fraud, tax fraud, government program and procurement fraud, bank fraud, consumer fraud and money laundering. He represents clients in connection with federal and state grand jury investigations, in inquiries by regulatory...
Christopher P. Conniff is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Criminal Defense: White-Collar and Litigation - Regulatory Enforcement (SEC, Telecom, Energy). Christopher P., who practices law in New York, New York, has been recognized since 2022. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Christopher P. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Tina Sciocchetti is a partner in our Government Investigations & White-Collar Defense practice group, drawing on her extensive experience as a former federal prosecutor. She is co-chair of Nixon Peabody’s Private and Independent Schools specialty team and serves on the Higher Education and Data Privacy teams. My focus I represent clients in state and federal investigations, providing counsel across a broad spectrum including healthcare, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) complian...
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.