AREAS OF PRACTICE

Criminal Defense

With three decades of experience in criminal trial practice and serving in leadership positions directly impacting the path of criminal justice reform, Michael C. Farkas is uniquely qualified to represent all manner of clients in Federal and State criminal prosecutions. His professional philosophy is simple: complete dedication, first and foremost, to those he serves.

Mr. Farkas is a former Senior homicide prosecutor and established criminal defense attorney, representing clients from the earliest investigative stages through trial verdicts and sentencing. A career military justice practitioner in the US Army Reserve, Mr. Farkas has also served as a military prosecutor, defense counsel, and presiding Judge. Mr. Farkas also has 20 years of experience defending financial firms and their representatives facing allegations of securities fraud and sales practice misconduct.

Mr. Farkas is committed to the service of the legal profession in general, and to the criminal justice community in particular. He is a Trustee of the Brooklyn Bar Association and Chair of its Criminal Law Committee, past President of the Kings County Criminal Bar Association, and senior member of his jurisdiction’s attorney Grievance Committee, and he holds leadership and membership roles in various other civilian legal and military organizations.

Examples of the types of criminal cases he handles include, but are certainly not limited to the following:

    • White collar economic fraud (including health care and insurance crimes)

    • Securities fraud and stockbroker prosecutions

    • Political corruption cases

    • Organized crime investigations and prosecutions

    • Murder, Manslaughter, and Criminally Negligent Homicide

    • Vehicular Homicide and Assaults involving substance use

    • Complex DWI offenses

    • Sex crimes and child abuse allegations

    • Narcotics Sale, Possession, and Conspiracy

    • Robbery and petty theft

    • Burglary

    • Shootings

    • Assaults

    • Gun Possession

    • Domestic violence

    • Military prosecutions

Securities Law

For over 20 years, Mr. Farkas has defended hundreds of corporate and individual financial service industry clients in securities regulatory actions and arbitration lawsuits, as well as criminal prosecutions. Mr. Farkas cut his teeth on Wall Street as in-house counsel with Citigroup’s Smith Barney retail brokerage, defending the company’s brokers before what was then the NYSE’s and NASD’s arbitration and regulatory forums. In private practice, he represents securities industry professionals under investigation by the SEC, FINRA, and State securities regulators, as well as litigants in FINRA arbitration matters. While he primarily acts as defense counsel, Mr. Farkas has also successfully represented public customers in their claims to recover substantial losses caused by fraud, misrepresentation, and unsuitable recommendations by financial advisors.

Examples of Mr. Farkas’ securities law practice include:

    • Regulatory enforcement investigations and proceedings initiated by the SEC, FINRA, or State regulators against financial services companies and their employees

    • Securities arbitration disputes, involving claims of loss by public investors against brokerage firms and financial advisors

    • Securities industry employment matters and arbitrations, including wrongful termination actions, promissory note disputes and negotiations, U4/U5 defamation and expungement cases, and theft of proprietary information

Military Law

Mr. Farkas is a retired Military Judge, former military prosecutor, and former trial defense counsel who held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps. His private military practice extends representation to selected current and former service members facing military-related criminal and administrative proceedings.

Note that before representing any servicemember, Mr. Farkas will review whether free legal services are available through the potential client’s servicing JAG office and make appropriate referrals if the servicemember wishes.

Examples of Mr. Farkas’ military practice areas include:

    • General Courts Martial trial and pre-trial defense

    • Defense in other UCMJ proceedings, including Non-Judicial Punishment ("Article 15's")

    • Adverse Administrative Proceedings (including entry-level separations, misconduct-related separation boards, and discharge review boards)

    • Representation of servicemembers who have gone AWOL or face desertion charges.