New York Criminal Practice

Mr. Mehler is a private practitioner in New York City specializing in criminal and civil litigation. During the Clinton Administration he served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice in Washington. Before that, he supervised the prosecution of public corruption and government-related fraud cases as Chief of Special Prosecutions (Public Integrity) at the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. He also worked as an American government resident legal advisor to the Government of Romania, and taught as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Fordham University School of Law. Mr. Mehler opened his own law practice in 2000.

Mr. Mehler was born in Denver and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Colorado. He received his law degree from New York University. He was a law clerk to a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, and began his legal career as an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York City. He has written for a variety of periodicals including, The American Lawyer and The New York Times. He is also the co-author of Mehler, Gleeson and James, Federal Criminal Practice: A Second Circuit Handbook (Lexis-Nexis/ Matthew Bender 2010), now in its 11th edition.

Mr. Schwartz is actively engaged in private practice specializing in criminal defense, with offices in New York City. He is a former Senior Trial Attorney in the Criminal Defense Division of The Legal Aid Society, a former Assistant District Attorney in Queens and Kings Counties in New York and a former Chief Assistant Attorney in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the New York State Attorney General's Office. He served as counsel to the Mayor's Committee on the Judiciary in New York City, was a member of a New York State Moreland Act Commission which investigated and reported on Police Violence and the Use of Force. Mr. Schwartz is also past President of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers.

Jay Shapiro is a retired partner in the New York City office of White and Williams LLP and co-chairs the firm’s co-chair of Cyber Law and Data Protection Group. He has almost 40 years' experience as a litigator and represents clients in connection with fraud related litigation and investigations, including corporate internal investigations, criminal and regulatory enforcement and insurance fraud. Additionally, he represents clients in resolving trademark and copyright matters.

Mr. Shapiro has written and co-authored numerous publications including: co-author, with Prof. Lewis R. Katz, New York Suppression Manual (Matthew Bender, 1990); revision author, Criminal Law Deskbook (Matthew Bender); contributing editor, Criminal Law Advocacy Reporter (Matthew Bender); Bender's New York Evidence, CPLR (Matthew Bender); draft co-author, Moore's Federal Practice, 3d Ed., Summary Judgment (Matthew Bender); author, Terrorism, the Constitution, and the Courts, New York Law School Journal of Human Rights, Volume 18 (Spring 2002). Mr. Shapiro is also an Adjunct Professor of Law, New York Law School (1989 to the present) and served as a faculty member of the New York Prosecutor's Training Institute, the New York City Police Department's Criminal Investigators' Course and the New York City Fire Marshal's Training Program.

Mr. Shapiro is admitted to practice in New York (1981), the U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York (1981 and 1988, respectively) and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit (1981). He received his A.B. from Middlebury College (1977) and earned his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law (1980).

Sentencing Guidelines are updated by Judge Kamins. Judge Kamins is a retired Supreme Court Justice, is a partner at Aidala, Bertuna and Kamins. Before his retirement he was Administrative Judge of the Criminal Court of New York City, Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters for the Second Judicial District and Chief of Policy and Planning for the New York Court System. He was appointed a Criminal Court Judge by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on September 11, 2008 and was elevated to Acting Supreme Court Justice on May 6, 2009. Judge Kamins was elected a State Supreme Court Justice on January 1, 2013. Judge Kamins is also an Adjunct Professor at Brooklyn Law School where he teaches New York criminal practice. He is the author of New York Search and Seizure and writes the Criminal Law and Practice column for the New York Law Journal.

From 1969 to 1973, Judge Kamins served as an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County where he was Deputy Chief of the Criminal Court Bureau. Before serving as a Judge, he was a partner in Flamhaft Levy Kamins Hirsch & Rendeiro LLP.

Judge Kamins is former President of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and formerly chaired the Advisory Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure for the Chief Administrative Judge of New York. He is a past Chair of the New York State Permanent Sentencing Commission. Judge Kamins is past Chairman of the Grievance Committee of the 2nd and 11th Judicial Districts. In addition, he is a former member of the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees on the Historical Society of the Courts of New York State. He chaired the State Bar’s Task Force on Wrongful Convictions and a former member of the Justice Task Force dealing with wrongful convictions.

Judge Kamins lectures extensively on criminal law for the Office of Court Administration and to prosecutors and defense attorneys. Over the years, he has been appointed by the courts to serve on several committees dealing with problems in the criminal justice system; the Commission on the Future of Indigent Defense Services; the Commission on Drugs and the Courts; the Committee to Promote Public Trust and Confidence in the Legal System; the Committee on Guidelines for Representation of Indigent Defendants’ the New York Task Force on Procession Civilian Complaints by the New York City Criminal Court; and the Assigned Counsel Plan Advisory Committee of the Appellate Division, Second Department. He received a B.A. from Columbia College and a J.D. from Rutgers University Law School.