Named one of the Best Lawyers in America 2003 - 2007 and a Northern California Super Lawyer 2004 - 2007, Ted Cassman enjoys a statewide reputation as a brilliant and zealous criminal defender. A seasoned trial lawyer with more than two decades of experience in state and federal courts, Ted is also a constitutional law expert and appellate specialist whose prodigious memory and keen eye for detail make him as formidable behind the scenes as he is in front of a jury. His cases run the spectrum from traffic tickets (every case is a big one) to narcotics trafficking, sexual assault, juvenile proceedings, money laundering, mail and wire fraud, and murder. In recent years, Ted’s practice has included numerous white collar cases, including tax and trade secret theft prosecutions, as well as alleged backdating of stock options. Due in no small part to Ted’s legal skills, many of these clients successfully avoided prosecution in court.

Principally responsible for the firm’s appellate practice, Ted has had remarkable success in persuading both the state and federal courts to overturn numerous unfair rulings and verdicts against his clients. Many of the cases in which he served as lead attorney have resulted in published appellate opinions, setting important precedent for other state and federal courts. Ted has also appeared before the California Supreme Court, and he wrote the winning briefs in U.S. v. Merchant, a 1987 case in which he persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court not to overturn a lower court ruling in favor of his client and not to use the case to set bad precedent for future criminal defendants.

Ted writes or supervises all of the legal motions that help the ACH team shape their defense strategy in virtually every case. If there is a flaw in the charges or a hole in the prosecution’s case that will bring victory before the case goes to trial, Ted will find it. “In pretty much every case I’ve ever won,” says Cris Arguedas, who has worked with him since the mid-1980s, “it’s because Ted has gotten some evidence excluded, or a favorable jury instruction, or won a set of evidentiary points.”

Over the years, Ted has also been extremely active in the California criminal defense bar, notably as a member of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. He is an officer of CACJ, serves on CACJ’s Executive Committee and Board of Governors, and is coauthor of a weekly email update of important developments in criminal defense law.

Background
A Los Angeles native, Ted attended Stanford University, where he graduated with honors in 1977 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his law degree from U.C. Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, graduating Order of the Coif in 1981. After law school, Ted clerked for the Honorable Edward J. Schwartz, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court in San Diego, then spent two years as an associate of Ephraim Margolin, a nationally renowned criminal defense and appellate attorney based in San Francisco.

Ted joined the law firm in 1984 and became a partner in 1987. His clients have included the former prime minister of Ukraine (international money laundering charges), the financial manager for a former U.S. Attorney General (racketeering charges), and hundreds of other people accused of every kind of crime in state or federal court. In addition to representing clients throughout California, he has handled cases in New York, Washington, Tennessee, Utah, Nevada, Texas, South Dakota, Ohio, and New Mexico.

Named one of the Best Lawyers in America 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007
Named a Northern California Super Lawyer in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007

His Philosophy
MOTIONS ARE THE HEART OF EVERY CASE
At every stage of a criminal case, motions are often the key to winning—a fact that many defense attorneys overlook or simply lack the skill to use to their advantage. Ted, on the other hand, has nearly a quarter-century’s experience at winning important, often decisive motions based on constitutional, procedural, and evidentiary law, which he employs in every case he handles.

Time after time, Ted has won cases outright or dramatically improved the prospects for a client’s victory at trial by prevailing on pretrial motions to dismiss for insufficiencies in the indictment, to suppress evidence following an illegal search or wiretap, or to exclude evidence from the trial. He has also had extraordinary success persuading judges to give jury instructions favorable to his clients.

KNOW THE CLIENT, KNOW THE CASE
Like every other member of the firm, Ted believes that the client is the most important aspect of every case and that preparation, commitment, and hard work are the keys to success. Ted believes that getting to know the client and understanding the context of the charge are essential to the effective defense of every case.

His clients, in turn, praise his dedication and compassion. The posting on one respected Bay Area parents’ website is typical. Ted is “fantastic,” the author says, “responsive,” and “very bright.”

DETAILS MATTER
Ted is a true rarity—a big-picture thinker and strategist who pays close attention to every single tree in the forest.

Often he finds the key that breaks a case wide open by intensively interviewing clients, visiting crime scenes, or conducting a personal investigation of crucial witnesses. By scrutinizing statutes and case law, examining evidence and court documents, and reinvestigating prosecution claims, he frequently shows that an ACH client is not guilty.

THINK AHEAD—FAR AHEAD
Many defense attorneys lack the expertise or vision to see beyond the here and now. In contrast, because of his extensive appellate experience, Ted is always planning for the possibility that a case will be reviewed by a higher court—and always taking steps to protect his clients’ future interests.

“He has an amazing ability to see how something he does or argues now is going to play out in a couple of years on appeal—to actually create a strategy around that,” a fellow ACH attorney says. “He’s like a chess player who can see an entire match in his head before he makes a single move.”

NEVER GIVE UP
While ACH attorneys have a reputation for being especially persistent, Ted—perhaps because of his appellate experience—is in a league of his own. Dogged, committed, and ever optimistic, he is often the last person to give up on a case, even when the odds seem insurmountable.

“We love what we do,” Ted says, speaking for the entire firm. “We love helping people in trouble. We think everyone deserves a chance. We hate the power of an abusive government to unfairly deprive people of their liberty. We love to fight back.”

Bar Admissions

• U.S. District Courts: Northern District of California, Southern District of California, Central District of California, Western District of California, Western District of Washington, Southern District of New York
  
• U.S. Court of Appeals: Second Circuit, Ninth Circuit and Tenth Circuit
  
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1986
  
• California State Bar, December 1981

Professional Activities

• California Attorneys for Criminal Justice: Officer, Board of Governors, Executive Committee, Public Information Committee
• National Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers

Publications and Lectures

• Coauthor, CACJ Flash, a weekly update for California defense lawyers concerning important developments in criminal law.
• “The Road to Stogner v. Calfornia: An Interview with Roberto Najera”
  The Forum magazine, December 2003
• “The Supreme Test: Roberto Najera's Remarkable Journey to Victory in the Stogner Case” (editor)
  The Forum magazine, December 2003
• “Federal Motions That Do It All: Get What You Need, Educate the Judge, Keep the Government on the Sidelines and Even Pay Your Bills”
  Speaker, National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, Spring Meeting and Seminar, “Advocacy Techniques— Masters’ Course”
  San Francisco, March 1999
• “An Unwarranted Extension of the ‘Good Faith’ Exception”
  The Recorder, March 22, 1995
• “New Developments in California Forfeiture Law”
  Speaker, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice—Spring Seminar
  San Diego, May 1994
• “When Government Requests in Mid-trial that Defense Witnesses Be ‘Mirandized’ and Apprised of Their Rights”
  Prosecutorial Discretion, California Criminal Law Practice Series Jan./Feb. 1984 at 32, Supplement, December 1983
• “Deconsolidating the Work Preservation Doctrine: Dolphin-Associated Transport”
  Industrial Relations Law Journal, 1981