News & Insights

Lightfoot Partners Co-Author Article on Public Corruption Trials for National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Journal

December 3, 2020

Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC partners Jackson R. Sharman III, Brandon K. Essig and Jeffrey P. Doss published an article in The Champion, the renowned journal of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

The article, titled “The Public Corruption Trial: A Checklist,” appeared in the journal’s September/October 2020 issue focused on white-collar crime. It provides an overview of best practices for defending clients facing this type of litigation, from formulating a theory of defense through pre-trial and trial preparations.

“Popular in the lay imagination, the public corruption trial is at the intersection of law, politics, and the media, a place where power, money, and ethics are put on display in a manner peculiar in the American judicial system,” write the authors. “Each case is different, and there is no magic here. On the other hand, the careful, persistent and creative use of a handful of tools will increase the likelihood of success and will help defense counsel practice at the highest level in one of 21st century American law’s most trying crucibles.”

Sharman, Essig and Doss are members of Lightfoot’s White-Collar Criminal Defense & Corporate Investigations practice group.

Sharman leads that group and has practiced law for nearly 30 years. He defends businesses and individuals in civil and criminal white-collar cases, provides guidance during corporate internal investigations and advises clients on how to stay in compliance with the law. He served as special counsel to the House Financial Services Committee for the Whitewater investigation involving President Bill Clinton, and he was special counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the Alabama House of Representatives for the impeachment investigation of Gov. Robert Bentley.

Essig focuses his practice on white-collar criminal defense, corporate investigations, NCAA compliance and investigations, and general litigation. He joined Lightfoot after nearly eight years as a federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Middle District of Alabama where he tried multiple felony jury trials each year. Prior to his time at the DOJ, Essig was a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps where he worked as a prosecutor and deployed with an infantry unit to Fallujah, Iraq.

Doss focuses his practice on trial advocacy in the areas of white-collar criminal defense and complex civil litigation. In addition to conducting internal investigations for private and public entities, he has defended businesses and individuals in connection with grand jury investigations, administrative enforcement proceedings and criminal prosecutions at the trial and appellate levels.