Practice Areas

LEGAL AREAS OF PRACTICE

Criminal Defense:

Specializing in juvenile criminal defense even if certified to be tried in the adult system.

Defending juveniles is a complex and multidisciplinary practice that involves knowledge of criminal, civil, and family codes and procedures. Texas juvenile criminal law requires an extensive familiarity with other issues as well, such as the psychological and psychosocial development of adolescents. All of these factors must be thoroughly evaluated for successful juvenile defense. Being a parent, Diana understands the need to support the child-defendant and their families in times of trouble. She is an aggressive advocate who defends juveniles with a passion. Cases handled include, yet are not limited to:

  • drug cases: throughout texas, drug cases are treated very seriously by law enforcement. aside from incarceration, guilty verdicts can lead to the loss of driving privileges, forfeiture of property and a limit to future employment opportunities.
  • sex offense cases: conviction for a sexual offense is a serious issue and is punished accordingly. terms of incarceration typically start at 10 years and have little chance of parole. the allegation alone can result in social stigmas, the loss or strain of personal and professional relationships and even the loss of employment and professional licenses.
  • theft and fraud
  • motions to de-register juvenile sex offenders
  • appeals
  • violent crimes
  • jail release and bond information
  • expungement

Juveniles Tried as Adults and Special Diversion Programs

There are two types of juvenile criminal cases that permit more serious adult-type penalties for juvenile delinquent conduct. One is certification and transfer hearings that can result in juvenile jurisdiction being waived and the juvenile being transferred as an adult for prosecution purposes. This means a juvenile could receive real penitentiary time in an adult prison. The second area is determinate sentencing. The family code sets out certain aggravated juvenile criminal offenses that can result in penalties of up to 40 years. Initially, the juvenile stays in the juvenile system, but at 18, the juvenile can be transferred to adult prison for the balance of the sentence.

Two of the topics that frequently arise in juvenile criminal law are deferred prosecution and pretrial diversion. These are legal scenarios that enable a juvenile to avoid an adjudication (and, hence, a juvenile record) by agreement with the prosecutor and usually involves the juvenile agreeing to certain activities such as volunteer work or restitution in order to have the matter deferred and adjudication withheld. A wide range of pretrial matters and motions can also be explored, including juvenile confessions, search and seizure issues, mental illness and retardation proceedings, and special education and other school issues. All of these areas should be considered in light of the access to and confidentiality of juvenile records and proceedings.

Corporate Services:

Who else would you want to look to for a reduction in costs of expensive in-house counsel and in-house compliance SMEs compounded by the benefit cost burden than a professional who served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for two companies across almost fourteen years? This experience included managing a global Human Resources team and the global Information Security & Data Privacy team in highly regulated sectors. She also had oversight of successfully gaining one company its HITRUST CSF certification and maintain its SOC2/Type 2 and PCI DSS certifications.

Diana provides clients with outsourced Legal Services, Chief Compliance Officer advisory services and practical solutions to mitigate and remediate compliance and regulatory risk inclusive, yet not limited to:

  • Commercial transactions document review and drafting including complex it licensing agreements.
  • Reviewing and drafting employment and severance agreements.
  • Advising on employment terminations regardless if a reduction in force or the result of an internal investigation
  • Regulatory research and training drafting to impacted employees
  • Mergers & acquisitions
  • Real property document review and drafting – purchase, lease, dbo, dboo
  • Full spectrum of government and commercial contracting from proposal to claims as well as being able to provide advice on data rights and program related disputes at prime and subcontract levels.
  • Ensure the corporation has an adequate compliance program in place
  • Design the structure of the in-house legal department
  • Assist in controlling legal costs
  • Identify and assess risk and risk management programs
  • Design a crisis management program
  • Conduct oversight of outside counsel
  • Manage litigation
  • Develop and maintain good working relationships with senior management
  • Review the corporation’s licensing practices
  • Keep informed of the requirements of a multi-jurisdictional practice
  • Establish a record retention program and policy
  • Assessing, optimizing and building out corporate compliance programs defensible under the federal sentencing guidelines to protect your brand and preserve your image (resource: ussc federal sentencing guidlines) corporate compliance is the way that a company ensures that it is following all the laws and regulations that apply to their business. this generally involves the design, implementation, and monitoring of policies, trainings, procedures and practices.
  • Corporate governance, risk & compliance (“grc”) risk assessments
  • Code of business conduct & ethics drafting and refreshing
  • Best practices program implementation advisory services, including audit and automating paper-heavy programs. go digital in all you can!
  • Employee training on compliance & ethics topics to create the rogue employee defense
  • Third-party compliance – partner risk scoring and assurance
  • Policy management programs management, attestations and drafting
  • Merger & acquisition compliance blending – cultural shifts
  • Obtaining management “buy in” for “tone from the top”
  • Conflicts of interest disclosure monitoring systems
  • Ethics hotline implementation, monitoring, case management and administrator training

Approaches include on-site observation and interviews, books and records reviews. Areas of focus include external rules, internal controls, compliance training and audit functions