Law360 Features Insights, Lessons From Jack Sharman About Elizabeth Holmes Prison Sentence

July 13, 2023

Law360 recently featured insights and lessons from Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC partner Jack Sharman around the sentencing of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. The publication featured an expert opinion piece from Sharman about sentencing takeaways for defense counsel, and quoted him in a May article about the start of Holmes’s prison sentence.

Sharman’s expert analysis piece,“Defense Counsel Sentencing Lessons From Holmes Case,” discusses practice pointers that “can make a great difference in a client’s life.” These include doing homework on facilities, taking advantage of intervention and treatment programs, producing sentencing videos and humanizing clients. 

“The extensive media attention around the sentencing and imprisonment of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is a good reminder of the unglamorous but critical part of federal white collar practice: sentencing and incarceration,” Sharman wrote. 

The May article, “Elizabeth Holmes Begins 11-year Prison Sentence in Texas”, discusses the start of Holmes’s sentence in a minimum-security prison camp. “The question [for the court to decide] is not just length of sentence but also surrender date, potential medical needs and the likely facility’s level of security,” Sharman told Law360. 

Sharman, who is the head of Lightfoot’s White-Collar Criminal Defense and Corporate Investigations practice group, is no stranger to high-profile investigations. Notably, Sharman served as Special Counsel to Congress during the Whitewater investigation and in the highly publicized investigation of a phone call between President Donald Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during the 2020 Presidential Election.