Alan Eisner

For Alan Eisner, a defining moment in his 37-year legal career came while still in law school, watching his criminal law professor defend a young man in federal court. Watching five prosecutors face off against a single defense attorney crystallized his future path in law.

What struck Eisner most was his professor's ability to humanize his client, looking beyond the criminal act to consider the full context of the case.

"I was moved by his impassioned plea," Eisner recalled. "He was able to separate the criminal act from the human being and urged the court to consider various mitigating circumstances."

Now a California State Bar-certified criminal law specialist, Eisner has built a reputation handling complex white-collar crime cases in both state and federal courts. His recent work includes high-profile cases ranging from international money laundering to cybercrime and bank fraud.

One of his notable recent successes involved defending a Canadian national in a multinational money laundering case. Rather than waiting for arrest, Eisner convinced his client to self-surrender -- a strategy that ultimately helped secure a probationary sentence. USA. v. Bakshish Sidhu, 14-cr-00648-4 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 02, 2024).

"It's much easier to get a client released pending case resolution when they walk in the front door of the courthouse, rather than after an arrest," he explained.

Eisner credits his early mentors while working at the federal public defender's office for shaping his approach to law.

"The most important lesson is that a lawyer's honesty and integrity is their most important asset when negotiating a case and in the courtroom," he said.

Looking at current trends in criminal justice, Eisner expresses optimism about the growing recognition of addiction and mental health as factors in criminal behavior.

"I am buoyed by the movement that continues to recognize that addiction and mental health challenges are very often the cause behind criminal conduct, and that the answer to a safer community is often through treatment and rehabilitation, rather than mass incarceration," he says.