Atlanta Criminal Defense Lawyers

Kish & Lietz is a client-focused firm. We are dedicated to working with our clients to resolve difficult and challenging legal issues. Although we specialize in federal criminal defense and federal appellate litigation, we do not hesitate to take on other matters when we believe we can make a difference.

Many lawyers claim to be qualified to handle cases in federal court. Most importantly, however, very few have the background, experience, and commitment that we have in defending federal criminal cases. We have more than 50 years of combined experience in federal court. Before becoming Atlanta criminal defense attorneys, we both began our legal careers as law clerks to federal judges, and then spent a significant period of time in the trenches as Federal Defenders here in the Northern District of Georgia. Moreover, after leaving the defender office to start our own firm, we have continued to devote our careers to the defense of individuals facing or dealing with federal criminal charges, here in Atlanta and throughout Georgia, as well as in cases throughout the United States.

Since opening up our own firm, a large part of our practice has been devoted to complex white collar criminal matters. However, we handle anything and everything in federal court, and it has always been that way for us.

In addition to the matters that we have handled in federal district court, we also have extensive experience at the federal appellate level. We have won cases for our clients on appeal in a variety of ways, like upholding a good sentence, or getting a “bad” trial reversed, resulting in a much better resolution for the person we represented.

In most of the matters we handle, we serve as lead counsel either in federal district court or in the federal court of appeals. From time to time, however, other lawyers have brought us into cases to offer our expertise as members of a multi-lawyer defense team. For example, we have been retained to try cases with other lawyers, prepare the mitigation phase of a federal sentencing hearing, or to help other lawyers get ready for oral argument in the Eleventh Circuit. Moreover, due to our vast experience in front of most of the federal judges here in the Northern District of Georgia, civil lawyers occasionally bring us into complex civil matters when they have a matter that may go to trial.

In most of the matters we handle, our opponent is the United States of America. We have aggressively and successfully litigated against the United States in the pre-indictment phase, in the pretrial motion stage, in trial after trial in federal court, and in the federal appellate courts as well. We are courtroom lawyers and we are not afraid of the courtroom battlefield. Indeed, as you will see from reviewing examples of our results, we have prevailed against our opponents in some of the most challenging and pressing situations.

Our office is in downtown Atlanta, right down the street from the Richard B. Russell United States Courthouse, as well as the Elbert P. Tuttle Building, the main location for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Although most of our work takes place in federal court throughout Georgia, we have handled matters as far west as San Francisco and as far north as New York. In addition, in recent years, we have handled substantive matters in the Northern District of Florida, various federal districts in Tennessee, and a number of other federal districts.

By design, our firm is small but formidable. Our Atlanta criminal defense lawyers handle serious matters with potentially serious consequences. For this reason, if you retain our firm, your case will be handled by Paul Kish or Carl Lietz. It will not be passed off to an attorney without the experience and credentials that a serious matter requires and deserves. If you have a matter that you would like to discuss with us, feel free to contact us.