Plain answers to urgent questions.

It is a request that a higher court step into a case immediately to fix a ruling that should not wait for the end of the case — a denied suppression motion, an impossible bond, an order to turn over privileged material. The trial court sets a return date, and a complete application must reach the court of appeal by that date. The window is short and unforgiving.

Immediately. The notice of intent must be filed quickly after the ruling, and in Louisiana criminal matters the return date is generally capped at 30 days from the ruling. Preparation of a persuasive application takes real time, so every day of delay is subtracted from the work itself.

Booking, a probable cause determination, and a first appearance where bond is addressed. The most useful early information is where the person is held, what the alleged charges are, and when the first court date is. Do not discuss the facts of the case on recorded jail phone lines — calls from custody are recorded.

No — not before speaking with counsel. Interviews are how cases get built, and even truthful, well-meaning answers can be misremembered, taken out of context, or contradicted by someone else's mistake. Saying 'I want a lawyer' is a protected choice, and prosecutors cannot use it against you at trial as evidence of guilt.

Be polite, take their card, and say your lawyer will call them. Nothing more. Lying to a federal agent is a felony under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 even when the underlying investigation would have gone nowhere. An early call to counsel can often establish whether you are a witness, a subject, or a target — which changes everything.

In Louisiana state court, a motion for appeal must generally be filed within 30 days of the ruling being appealed (La. C.Cr.P. art. 914). In federal court, a defendant generally has 14 days from entry of judgment (Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)). Post-conviction relief carries separate, longer — but still strict — time limits. Treat every one of these as immediate and confirm your specific deadline with counsel.

Sometimes. Louisiana courts can reinstate appeal rights in certain circumstances through post-conviction procedures, and other post-conviction claims may remain available. These paths narrow with time, so the honest answer is: call now and find out exactly where things stand.

Yes. The practice is based in New Orleans and admitted everywhere the case can go: every Louisiana state court, the Eastern, Middle, and Western federal districts, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Writ and appellate work in particular travels well, because it is built on the record rather than the courthouse.

It depends on the charge, the court, the stage, and the work the case genuinely needs — and you will hear a specific number and scope before any engagement begins, in plain terms. No vague hourly drift, no surprises. The first conversation about the case costs nothing.

Consultations with a lawyer for the purpose of seeking legal advice are protected. Even so, good practice in the first call is to describe the situation generally — names, dates, court, deadline — and save the full detail for a privileged, unhurried conversation once representation begins.

The practice concentrates deliberately on high-stakes criminal work: writs, federal defense, appeals, and serious felonies. Concentration is a feature — the same procedural tools appear in these cases again and again, and familiarity with them is exactly what urgent matters require.

Because somebody has to speak for the prosecution's feelings. It is a satirical project — a fictional 'complaint' from the people whose job is to convict the clients this practice defends. The grievances are invented; the point underneath them is not. If the other side of the courtroom is annoyed, the defense is doing its job.