Steven William Gomberg

By the time I started college at the University of Maryland, I knew I wanted to be a criminal lawyer. I graduated in 1970 with Honors and was accepted at Georgetown and Duke Law Schools. I chose Duke because I wanted to get away from the Washington area. I graduated Duke Law School in 1974 and accepted a job with the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office. At the time it was a popular notion that prosecutors with a wider view of the world (and a tad on the liberal side) could achieve just results more directly than defense attorneys. 

I gravitated away from street crime and dealing with pollice into the investigation and prosecution of white collar or economic crime. I became Chief of the Economic Crime Division until leaving the office in 1981.

I went to work with Richard Lubin and stayed with him for three years before starting my own criminal defense practice in 1984.

I have always been a person who liked to follow his own path. I quickly learned that the finances of the criminal law business were unique. The amount of money defense attorneys charge was not at all a reflection of their skills or quality of representation. This has gotten worse over the 35 years I have practiced. Lawyers fresh out of law school may charge 2 to 4 times what I would for a given case. They demand their money up front and do not adjust their fees when a case falls apart early. They have burdened their business expenses with fancy offices and huge investments in internet based advertising. These costs are passed along to the clients in the form of higher fees. 

I hate to say it but, in many cases, it probably does not matter if you spend $1000 or $10,000 , the result will be the same. I strive to set my fees within the reach of the average person. I almost never set a final fee before I have learned more about the case I am being asked to handle. I am always willing to accept payments over time.  My goal with every client is to be effective, to communicate oipenly and fully with the client, and to make sure they know as much about their situation as is possible.

Finally, my distaste for police misconduct caused me to take my first False Arrest lawsuit in 1985. I was encouraged by that experience and have continued to pursue similar cases as a part of my practice. Taking smaller cases suitable to my practice, I have still extracted close to Two Million Dollars from law enforcement agencies across South Florida.