In a conversation with Arthur Rothrock on The Litigator's Path, Appelbaum explains why she assembles an investigative team the moment a case walks in the door, how she uses her prosecutorial background to identify the exact gaps in government investigations, what she looks for before agreeing to take on a new client, and why she keeps her firm deliberately small even as caseloads grow. The thread that runs through all of it: in white-collar criminal defense, the work that matters most often happens long before a courtroom is involved – and the attorney who controls the investigation controls the outcome.
Why Appelbaum Assembles an Investigative Team Before a Case Is Even Filed
The highest-value moment in Appelbaum's practice is when a client reaches her before charges exist. A client who has received a subpoena or a call from a government investigator – but has no pending case – gives her firm the widest possible runway. At that stage, she can lock witnesses into statements, preserve documents before they disappear, and build a parallel investigation that may prevent charges from ever being brought.
One example she points to: an SEC investigation where her client was contacted by an agency investigator for what was characterized as an informal chat. The client recognized the risk, reached Appelbaum through a referring attorney, and hired her before responding. Bob Hartmann makes the same point about white-collar defendants: early engagement, before the prosecution has locked in its narrative, is where the defense wins or loses. Appelbaum stepped in as a physical barrier between investigator and client, controlled the flow of information, and ultimately "put that investigation to bed." The SEC stopped questioning the client entirely.
That outcome was possible only because the engagement started early. In cases where clients arrive after an arraignment or past a preliminary hearing, Appelbaum's team shifts into reactive mode – still effective, but working with a narrower set of options. The difference in timing, she says, can determine whether a case ends quietly or goes to trial.
How Prosecutorial Experience Shapes Appelbaum's Defense Strategy
Appelbaum spent nearly five years in the Manhattan DA's Cybercrime and Identity Theft Unit before moving to California, where she initially left law altogether and coached trial team at Pepperdine School of Law. When criminal defense "clawed me back in," as she puts it, she started working for other defense practitioners to learn California-specific procedure and statutes before launching her own firm. Her approach to motions and pre-trial litigation reflects that prosecutorial foundation: she knows which filings actually move government investigators and which ones signal a defense that is guessing.
That prosecutorial background gives her a specific tactical edge she applies to nearly every case. She knows what government investigators prioritize, how much institutional weight an office puts behind a given prosecution, and – critically – where investigations tend to stop. Prosecutors and investigators, she explains, don't always interview every relevant witness or chase down every lead. If she can identify those gaps and bring that information to the table, she can sometimes resolve a case before it reaches a courtroom. In the white-collar fraud context especially, she knows what the other side needs to prove intent and where that proof is likely to be weakest.
The transition between sides was not driven by disillusionment. Appelbaum wanted to prosecute from her college years, when she worked with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. She still views both roles as doing "the right thing." But when she returned to criminal law in California, she wanted to handle the same categories of cases – cybercrime, identity theft, sexual assault allegations – from the defense side, particularly where allegations may not tell the full story.
How Appelbaum Manages a Solo Firm That Handles Complex Multi-Expert Cases
Appelbaum describes her practice as "solo slash small firm," and the distinction matters. Day to day, she operates as a solo practitioner. But no case stays solo for long. The moment a new matter comes in, she hires a private investigator specific to that case. Depending on the subject matter, a forensic accountant, psychologist, or subject-matter consultant follows shortly after. For trial, she always brings on co-counsel as second chair – a practice she adopted years ago and has not deviated from since.
Finding the right experts is a recurring challenge, particularly when cases cross state lines. Appelbaum relies almost entirely on her attorney network for referrals, often cross-referencing recommendations from three or four lawyers before vetting a candidate directly. She has tried cases in the District of New Jersey and the Northern District of Texas, and in those situations, cost-conscious clients sometimes require locally sourced experts to avoid travel and lodging expenses – shrinking the pool considerably.
One of the more memorable expert engagements she describes involved a real estate fraud trial in New Jersey connected to the mortgage crash. Her team retained what she calls an "educational expert" – a man who taught real estate broker exam courses – to explain to the jury that practices like receiving cash back at closing or buying a home with nothing down were standard industry customs during that era, not evidence of fraudulent intent. "The jury loved him because he was so honest," Appelbaum says. The expert's credibility came not from flash but from decades of straightforward teaching experience.
Why Appelbaum Limits Her Caseload and How She Decides Which Clients to Take
Without an associate bench to absorb overflow, Appelbaum's intake process is essentially a capacity check. She evaluates each prospective case not just on subject matter but on stage: an arraignment-level case demands a different time commitment than one approaching trial, and an active pre-charge investigation is yet another category entirely. If the firm lacks bandwidth to provide what she calls "white glove attention," she refers the case to a colleague she trusts.
Red-flag clients are rare in her practice, and she attributes that to her referral pipeline. Roughly 95% of her new matters come from other attorneys – former colleagues, criminal defense association contacts, co-counsel from past multi-defendant trials – who have already screened the client before making the introduction. The result is that Appelbaum almost never turns away a client for credibility or personality concerns. The filter, when it kicks in, is about time and fit, not suspicion.
Client management in white-collar defense carries its own particular weight. Many of Appelbaum's clients – surgeons facing healthcare fraud allegations, executives accused of securities violations – do not believe they have done anything wrong, and some have had their licenses suspended or their livelihoods disrupted before trial. She manages that frustration by making clients active participants in their own defense: reviewing materials together, walking through investigation findings, identifying additional witnesses or documents. "My strategy is to make the client part of the process," she says. The approach channels anxiety into something productive and builds the trust her defense strategy depends on.
Appelbaum's Approach to Media, Social Media, and Crisis Management in Criminal Cases
Unlike civil litigation, where public narrative can be shaped more aggressively, Appelbaum's default posture with media is silence – or close to it. She instructs clients to say nothing publicly and limits her own statements to variations of "we look forward to our day in court." The reasoning is tactical: anything a client says publicly can surface in court, and revealing defense strategy to the press also reveals it to the prosecution.
She does, however, keep crisis management professionals in her network for situations that demand a public response – particularly post-trial outcomes or cases involving clients with public profiles. Appelbaum has represented actors and dealt with cases adjacent to media attention, and she treats crisis PR the same way she treats expert witnesses: identify the right people in advance, vet them through trusted referrals, and deploy them only when the situation genuinely requires it. Looking ahead, she says the firm is leaning toward greater involvement with the American Bar Association rather than building a social media presence – a choice that reflects where her referral base actually lives.
What Litigators Can Take Away
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Early engagement changes outcomes in white-collar defense. Appelbaum's SEC investigation example shows that stepping in before charges are filed – when witnesses can still be locked into statements and documents preserved – can end a matter entirely, while post-charge involvement narrows options to reactive defense.
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A solo practitioner can handle complex cases by building a case-specific team from day one. Appelbaum hires an investigator on virtually every case immediately, adds forensic accountants or subject-matter consultants as needed, and brings on co-counsel for any matter headed to trial – keeping fixed overhead low while matching resources to each case's demands.
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Attorney-to-attorney referrals can replace an entire marketing strategy. With 95% of her cases coming from other lawyers who know her personally or have worked opposite her in multi-defendant trials, Appelbaum has built an 11-year practice with essentially no SEO strategy and no paid advertising.
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Making the client an active participant in their defense builds trust and surfaces facts. Rather than keeping white-collar clients at arm's length, Appelbaum walks them through investigation findings, asks them to identify additional documents and witnesses, and channels their frustration into concrete contributions to the case.
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Vetting experts through overlapping attorney recommendations reduces hiring risk. Before retaining any subject-matter consultant, Appelbaum cross-references names from three or four attorney contacts, interviews candidates directly, and confirms they are willing to say when a case falls outside their expertise – a filter that has led to some of her strongest trial witnesses.
Listen to the Full Episode
Sharon Appelbaum's full conversation with Arthur Rothrock covers more ground than this article can – including her take on the Amber Heard trial's social media dynamics, the logistics of pro hac vice admissions across jurisdictions, and what she would tell a new attorney about the learning curve of opening a solo criminal defense firm. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. To learn more about Appelbaum Law PC, visit appelbaumlaw.com or reach the firm at 310-853-0829 (Santa Monica) or 619-916-7728 (San Diego).