I attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where I graduated summa cum laude in 2004. I earned the highest G.P.A. among all Criminal Justice majors in my graduating class and received the Criminal Justice Academic Excellence Award. In 2005, I moved to San Diego to attend California Western School of Law. I completed law school in two years and received the Academic Excellence Award for Advanced Criminal Justice in 2007. My federal experience also began in 2007. I started as an academic intern at a San Diego-based federal criminal defense firm in October of that year and began practicing regularly in federal court when I was admitted to the California State Bar May 2008. I have practiced in federal court for the past eight years, and in 2013 I was selected by the federal judiciary for the Criminal Justice Act Panel for the Southern District of California. For nearly a decade, I have represented hundreds of defendants facing federal charges. I have defended my clients against drug trafficking, alien smuggling, mortgage fraud, immigration, conspiracy, firearms and RICO charges and have continued the fight at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. I also have extensive experience in plea negotiations with the U.S. Attorney's Office and regularly obtain unprecedented results for my clients at sentencing.