Family Law

• Child Support
  Represented a pro bono client in five-day trial in Domestic Relations Branch of the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. The trial court granted our client legal custody, primary physical custody, and child support.

Criminal Law

• Criminal Defense
  Zuckerman Spaeder attorneys in Tampa have frequently acted pro bono on behalf of children and young adults through Crossroads for Florida Kids. We serve as primary attorneys for children in foster care and assist the public defenders of others who are contending with delinquency and criminal matters. Most of these kids have suffered the trauma of abuse, neglect, or abandonment, causing mental health issues.
• Fraud
  His criminal defense focus includes alleged complex financial, securities, and health care fraud, including under the False Claims Act. His civil litigation focus includes securities enforcement actions, complex commercial disputes, and antitrust and legal malpractice matters. He also represents health care providers and their patients in high-stakes disputes with health insurance companies.
• White Collar Crimes
  Of direct relevance to Ms. O’Donnell’s white collar practice, she plays an instrumental role as a leader for the American Bar Association’s annual White Collar Crime Conference, working alongside conference co-chairs to develop meaningful programming for the over one thousand participants from across the country. She has played a critical role in helping to expand and diversify the presentations and maintain the timeliness and impact of the content, while also serving as a moderator and panelist.
• Misdemeanors
  Ms. O’Donnell’s practice focuses on white collar criminal defense and civil matters, representing individuals and corporations in government investigations, criminal prosecutions, and complex civil disputes. Drawing on her experience as a former public defender for the District of Columbia, where she represented hundreds of felony and misdemeanor clients – including through trial – she brings strong advocacy and a carefully honed understanding of defense strategy to her engagements.

Business and Corporate Law

• Business Disputes
  We handle a broad array of business disputes, nationally and internationally, including “bet-the-company” lawsuits, complex commercial disputes, class actions, private securities actions, insurance coverage litigation, professional malpractice claims, and antitrust litigation.
• Unfair Competition
• Antitrust

Employment Law

• Employment Discrimination
  The vast majority of our pro bono work involves direct representation of low-income or under-represented individuals or the organizations that represent them. We work closely with federal and state courts as well as legal service providers, to identify and engage on representations that present important issues of law, have the potential to benefit a large number of people, or are particularly challenging. In recent years, this work has focused on issues relating to civil rights, immigration law, matters of compassionate release and criminal justice, child welfare, employment discrimination, health care, and ethics counseling to non-profit organizations.

Finance Law

• Bankruptcy
• Tax Law
  The Supreme Court’s first oral argument of 2023 involved a grand jury subpoena to a law firm for records related to tax preparation and advice given to a client who wanted to expatriate and was therefore subject to an “exit tax” for departing citizens. The firm refused to produce certain documents, even with statements of legal advice redacted. The district court held the firm in civil contempt, and the firm appealed the contempt order. The Ninth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Lee, joined by Judges Murgia and Bade, upheld the order, rejecting the law firm’s arguments that the documents were subject to the attorney-client privilege because obtaining or providing legal advice was a significant purpose of the communications.