Igor Litvak is a New York-based criminal defense attorney who has served as a lead-counsel on a number of high-profile cases in the United States. We sat down with him to ask him about his background, education, career, and what advice he would offer to students aspiring to become attorneys. Through this interview, we hope to give our readers an insight into the attorney who has been at the forefront of several high-profile cases.
Can you tell us about your background? Where you came from, your childhood and education?
Answer: I was born in Vorkuta on April 2nd, 1979, a small city in Soviet Union’s far north above the Arctic circle where the winters last 9 months, and the temperature regularly falls below 40 Celsius (currently located in the Russian Federation). My parents moved to Vorkuta in the mid 1970s from Ukraine, my father was a Doctor and mother a teacher, I have a sister and while living in Vorkuta in the 1980s we had a very comfortable life. I moved to the US at the age of 14 to attend a private Jewish religious high school in Long Island, New York. Later I moved to New York City where I still live to this day.
I earned my L.L.M in Trial Advocacy from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in Many of 2019, and my J.D. from Rutgers School of Law in Newark, New Jersey in May of 2012. In addition, I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration in Marketing Management and Political Science from Baruch University, Zicklin School of Business in Manhattan, a notable school in the region. During the L.L.M. Trial Advocacy program at Temple Law, which is the second-ranked (or third) trial advocacy program in the country, I perfected my jury trial advocacy skills by taking advance rules of evidence courses and by conducting multiple jury trials throughout the academic year. While in Rutgers Law, I was the senior editor of Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal, President of the Jewish Law Student Association, 1L representative for the Student Bar Association, and a recipient of the Eric R. Neisser Pro Bono Service Program Certificate.
Upon completion of my first year of law school, I got my first taste of “law work” after being hired as an intern at the Elizabeth Law Department of Elizabeth, New Jersey. The following year I interned at the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office where I helped investigate large-scale medical fraud cases. In addition, I was a law clerk for the Honorable Irene Jones, an administrative law judge with the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law and a clinical law student at the Community Law Clinic of Rutgers University, where I worked on several large corporate projects. After graduation from law school, I accepted a position as a junior associate with the Portela Law Firm, a reputable criminal defense law firm located in Manhattan, New York. In 2013 I launched my own law firm and my work launched me into the spotlight. I have worked as lead counsel or co-counsel on several very big, high profile cases that have made major headlines around the world. I have been featured in news stories, in both print and video.
What made you become a lawyer?
Answer: I started thinking of becoming a lawyer at a young age when I was still living in Vorkuta. As mentioned above Vorkuta has a very dark history, although, when I was born there, all of it was in the past. Nevertheless, the history of all this injustice, which I was aware of, nurtured in me from an early age a strong sense to advocate for others. Thus, becoming an attorney was a natural, lifelong dream, something I deliberately decided to do and now I am doing what I love.
When it comes to criminal defense, what is one law or legal precedence that unfairly harms defendants that you would overturn if you could?
Answer: I would change the way the Federal sentencing guidelines treat Access Devices losses. Under the current statute, the loss amounts caused by a Defendant play a big role in determining what will be the recommended guideline sentence under federal law. However, when it comes to Access Devices, such as Debit, and Credit cards, and PayPal Accounts, etc., there is a special presumption in the law that the loss amount would be calculated at $500 per the Access Device. When it comes to Cybercrimes, the Defendants, who often trade in hundreds of thousands of Access Devices on a regular basis, are charged with causing unimaginable amounts of losses, sometimes hundreds of millions, when in reality the actual losses are often a small fraction of it. Many scholars, attorneys, and even Judges criticize this presumption, as it applies to Access Devices in Cybercrime cases since it creates huge artificial loss amounts, which then later are used to substantially enhance Cybercrime Defendants’ recommended sentences which in my opinion go way beyond what Congress ever intended.
What interests you outside of your legal profession?
Answer: I closely follow politics, keep an active lifestyle, and often exercise. I got married recently and currently concentrating on growing my family and my law firm, which has become quite successful over the past few years.
What do you regard as your biggest achievement so far in your career?
Answer: I had many achievements in my legal career, but the biggest so far would be the case of Dmitriy Smilianets. Mr. Smilianets was charged with various cybercrimes causing $300 million in losses, according to the Government it was the biggest cybercrime case ever prosecuted in the US and Mr. Smilianets was facing almost life behind bars. However, after working on the case very hard to we were able to walk away with a time-served sentence, and Mr. Smilianets and I both walked out of the Courtroom to the shock of everyone present, Mr. Smilianets ended serving approx. 4 years behind bars when everyone predicted that he will never see the light of day again. It felt like a great achievement and I am still proud of it to this day.
What advice would you offer to law students or those who want to pursue a career in law?
Answer: To those who are considering pursuing a career as an attorney, I would advise them to think very hard that this is what they want to pursue and only do it if they have the passion for it. Absolutely never pursue it only because you believe it will be your tickets to riches, because it is unlikely to happen, as with any serious professional, in order to be successful in it, it has to be your calling. To law students, I would say try to get as much as you can of real-world experience while in law school, take evidence and trial classes, go to Court while interning, work for a Judge, all of these things in the long term will likely have more of a positive impact on most students’ careers than anything else.
Building trust with the client is very important, how do you achieve that?
Answer: I believe in being honest with the client but also realistic, but most importantly, the way I achieve trust is by never guaranteeing a specific result or outcome of a criminal case, the only thing I guarantee is that I will do the best job humanly possible for the client. It may sound counterintuitive, but by not guaranteeing a specific result, you are actually telling the client that you will always be honest and truthful with him or her. So if you come to me asking me to guarantee you that I will be able to get the Indictment dismissed against you, the only thing you will get is an honest analysis of the situation and a guarantee that I will do the best job I can for you, just as I have done for all my clients.
What success means to you?
Answer: For me, the true meaning of success is to find your true calling/passion in life, because if you do that you will truly enjoy what you are doing for the rest of your life. It has nothing to do with how much you are earning, or if you have the fanciest office or job. It’s about doing something in life that allows one to obtain self-fulfillment and a sense of accomplishment while at the same time enjoying what you are doing.
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