Sara L Caplan

Sara Caplan is a highly experienced criminal defense attorney (over 30 years). She also handles many immigration matters. She was for 11 years Of Counsel to Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro; and was co-counsel with Robert Shapiro for over 20 years. Ms. Caplan is a trial attorney, specializing in criminal defense (state and federal; adult and juvenile); professional administrative hearings (e.g., medical, dental, nursing, and real estate boards) and many types of immigration matters (administrative and court proceedings). She has also been appointed to the ICDA Bar Panel to represent indigent criminal defendants in Los Angeles County when appointed by the court due to conflicts with the public defender's office. She is very proficient in handling sex crimes, domestic violence and Title IX proceedings at colleges and universities. She is very successful in flushing out false claims and allegations, avoiding lifetime sex offender registration and jail, and avoiding expulsion from school.

Post 9/11, Immigration procedures have been drastically impeded, especially when criminal convictions or arrests are involved. Criminal matters have a major impact on one's immigration ability and status. Ms. Caplan specializes in representing individuals in such matters with extremely favorable outcomes.

Ms. Caplan has been involved in many complex, multi-defendant, and high-profile cases, which have proceeded administratively and in state and federal courts. She has always handled a high volume of cases and has extensive courtroom experience. Many cases have involved very complicated white-collar criminal fraud schemes, scientific evidence such as DNA, ballistics, toxicology, latent prints, forensic computer evidence and toxic environmental waste matters, as well as psychiatric mental health and sociological issues. She maintains excellent relationships with many judges, prosecutors and private attorneys throughout the State of Calfornia.

Ms. Caplan has handled many types of immigration matters, including alien petitions for temporary and permanent residency (based on marriage, labor, special ability, asylum and Torture Convention claims, etc.) and adjustments (through the Service and in Immigration Court). She has successfully litigated several Immigration court cases, mainly asylum and withholding of removal cases for immigrants originating in the republics of the former Soviet Union and Indonesia. She has done many merits hearings before many of the Immigration judges in the Los Angeles Immigration Court, as well as handling appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals.