Why I do this work
I found criminal defense by working in a law office, years before I became a lawyer. People came in for help after what was sometimes the worst day of their lives. Some had made a mistake. Some had been wrongly accused. Many were scared about their future, and some had nearly given up on it.
Helping someone through a problem they thought would end their career, take them away from their family, or ruin their life is a great feeling. I enjoyed it, and I’ll admit I got a little addicted to it. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to save someone from that.
I’ve done every job in a law office
I didn’t start as a lawyer. I started at the front desk. I worked as the receptionist, then as a paralegal, then as the office manager, all while I went to law school at night. After I passed the bar, I stayed on as an associate attorney.
Each of those jobs showed me a different part of what a client goes through. That’s where I learned that good legal work includes good customer service. Calls get returned. Questions get answered in plain words. Nobody should have to wonder where their case stands.
Working my way through law school
I went to Middle College High School, a high school on the San Joaquin Delta College campus, where I took college classes and earned college credit before I finished high school. After that, I attended UC Davis.
I went to law school at night, at Drivon School of Law in Stockton, while I worked full time in the law office during the day. My test scores earned me a partial scholarship, and I paid the rest myself, without taking on debt. It wasn’t the easy path, and I’m proud of it.
Because I spent those years doing the work while I studied, I graduated already knowing how to practice. When I started as a lawyer, those years of law-office experience put me head and shoulders above most new attorneys.
What good work means to me
It’s not just about doing good work in the courtroom. To me, good work also means:
- Easing your mind early. A criminal case is stressful. Part of my job is to relieve that stress long before the case is over, and never to add new stress you don’t need.
- Being creative about how a case ends. If some consequences can’t be avoided, I look for the ones that do the least damage to your life. That can mean community service instead of jail days, or an informal diversion deal with the DA. Those options aren’t available in every case, but I look for them in every case.
- Being responsive. Text or email is the fastest way to reach me, because I can read them even when I’m in court. I reply as soon as I can, usually within a day.
Good work means you’re happy with the result, and also happy with how you got there.
Why I work alone
I have no associates, paralegals, or assistants. That’s a choice.
I’m busy enough to hire staff and grow. But for me, growing would mean handing off parts of your case, one step at a time:
- A receptionist would answer your calls and pass along messages, so I’d talk with you less.
- A paralegal would summarize the evidence and write research memos that I’d have to trust were accurate. I’d miss the details they missed.
- An associate would go to your hearings, because I can’t be everywhere at once. I wouldn’t be the one making the arguments, handling what comes up in court, or negotiating with the DA face to face.
That’s not how I want to work. I don’t want to spread my attention so thin that I only supervise other people, or spend half my day signing up new clients to pay for staff and overhead. I’d rather spend that time on your case. There’s enough money to be made without squeezing every last dollar out of my time.
So when you hire me:
- I go to court on your case.
- I get the police reports, video, and other evidence, and I review all of it myself.
- I do the research and the writing myself.
- You get my direct line for texts and voicemails, not a number for a receptionist.
Phones are answered 24/7 by my answering service, which can book a free phone consultation with me, usually the same day.
Your first call with me
Most people want to know the price first. I get to that, but I lead the call in a different order. I ask a little about you, then about what happened: the important facts, not every detail. Then I give you my honest read of the case and what I’d expect. Then the price and how the process works from there, and then your questions.
I know what worries people most when they’re facing charges, so I answer those questions before you ask them. By the end, most callers tell me they have no more questions. Quite frankly, the question I hear most at that point is how to sign up.
Many clients thank me for that first conversation. Many people come to me sure the worst is already decided. They’re right to be worried, but they’re often wrong that it can’t be avoided. People often tell me they feel much better once they hear how I see things and what I expect. I won’t promise you an outcome, and I won’t give you false comfort. I’ll tell you the truth.
How I see a case
Every criminal case comes down to two things: whether they can prove it, and who you are. I work on both. I go through the evidence looking for every weak spot, and I help the prosecutor and the judge see the person behind the case. My goal is to make your case a speed bump in the road of your life, not a dead end. How I handle criminal cases
Criminal defense and civil rights
Most of my work is criminal defense. In those cases I kept seeing clients’ rights violated, often with little I could do about it outside the criminal case itself. My civil rights work grew out of that, starting with a criminal case I took on pro bono, where my client said police hurt him and then charged him with resisting arrest. Now I also take civil rights cases against police and jails for excessive force or for holding someone too long, especially when a criminal charge was used to cover up what police did. My civil rights work
Where I practice
My office is at 2000 L St, Suite 250, Sacramento. Most of my cases are in Sacramento County, and I also take cases in nearby counties, especially criminal cases with a civil rights side.
I’m licensed by the State Bar of California, Bar No. 348074, and admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, where I bring civil rights cases. I’m a member of the Anthony M. Kennedy American Inn of Court, the Sacramento County Bar Association and its Criminal Law Section, and California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ). My firm is Goss Law, Inc.