ATTORNEYS

With a practice focused on trials, complex litigation, and criminal and regulatory defense, Charles J. Snyder is a versatile trial lawyer who has served as lead or co-lead counsel in some of the Central District of California’s most significant and well-known recent cases. Described in the press as “incredibly bold,” Mr. Snyder is known for his creativity, technical skill, strategic vision, and relentless commitment to his clients’ objectives. These qualities have consistently bent the odds in his clients’ favor, leading to high-stakes victories at trial, through motion practice, on appeal, and via favorable settlements and pretrial resolutions.

In criminal and regulatory matters, Mr. Snyder represents companies, lawyers, politicians, executives, entertainers, traders, doctors, and other professionals at all stages of federal and state enforcement proceedings, from pre-charge investigations through appeal. With extensive knowledge of the federal fraud, corruption, and conspiracy statutes, he has defended against allegations of mail, wire, tax, healthcare, immigration, procurement, and securities fraud, as well as kickback, bribery, money-laundering, campaign-finance, identity-theft, RICO, environmental, and other regulatory and process offenses. In several cases, Mr. Snyder has persuaded prosecutors to dismiss, narrow, or never bring criminal charges. In others, he has identified factual and legal defects resulting in suppression, dismissal, or diversion. Where trial is necessary, Mr. Snyder’s relentless preparation and credibility in the courtroom have led to acquittals in half of his federal criminal trials.

Mr. Snyder brings the same meticulous focus and trial mindset to civil practice, which allows him to quickly identify issues and narratives that will drive favorable outcomes. Mr. Snyder has represented plaintiffs and defendants in insurance, film financing, and other complex financial disputes, as well as class actions and cases involving intellectual property, unfair competition, securities, employment, contracts, and business torts. Mr. Snyder works to negotiate favorable resolutions as early as possible, but also analyzes and prepares each case as if it were going to trial – a strategy that pays dividends if a favorable agreement is not forthcoming.

Some of Mr. Snyder’s representative matters include:

• Securing the dismissal of a 57-count indictment on behalf of a healthcare professional in a case described as the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office’s largest-ever healthcare-fraud prosecution;

• Winning a full acquittal in $20-million federal bank theft case after an eight-day trial where the government presented evidence of the client’s prior convictions for the same conduct, two cooperators, and a dozen law-enforcement and expert witnesses;

• Representing Regency Entertainment Inc. and Monarchy Enterprises S.A.R.L in an $18 million film-finance dispute that resulted in a favorable verdict and settlements for all amounts owed;

• Winning a motion to suppress all evidence from searches at four locations leading to the dismissal of a federal indictment and the client’s retention of his professional license;

• Traveling to Oklahoma at the request of a federal court and winning a full acquittal after less than an hour of jury deliberations in a case involving an alleged major crime in “Indian Country”;

• Securing a complete Ninth Circuit reversal after being retained on appeal by a client convicted of conspiracy, money-laundering, and healthcare-fraud charges;

• Obtaining a rare diversion agreement after extensive litigation in a federal campaign-finance prosecution that enabled the client to walk away without criminal or financial penalties;

• Securing the dismissal of two federal indictments – one after a hearing and another shortly before trial – after uncovering evidence of government misconduct;

• Obtaining another rare diversion agreement for a former aerospace CEO in an alleged government-contracting kickback case;

• Serving as lead trial counsel for nationally prominent plaintiff’s attorney Tom Girardi in his closely watched wire-fraud trial;

• Co-leading the defense of former Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar in his federal racketeering and corruption case.

Outside of his client work, Mr. Snyder has served for nearly a decade as a faculty instructor at NITA, one of the nation’s premier trial-training programs, and has frequently trained other lawyers on evidence, trial tactics, and negotiations. He previously spent six years in the Trial Unit of the Federal Public Defender’s Office, where he appeared in hundreds of cases and supervised a team of trial lawyers, earning a reputation among judges, prosecutors, and the wider defense bar as a skilled and credible advocate. Before attending law school, Mr. Snyder worked domestically and overseas in the alternative-investment industry.