Susan Ferguson's is one of the nation's premier appellate attorneys. In fact, her focus on sentencing issues and keen attention to detail have resulted in significant sentencing reductions for over 50% of her clients.
Ms. Ferguson's willingness to fight to the end for her clients and her phenomenal writing skills have brought her success all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Most appellate attorneys, throughout the entire course of their career, will never win a case in the United States Supreme Court. Ms. Ferguson recently has won an important victory at highest court in the land.
Ms. Ferguson is an expert in all aspects of post-conviction proceedings. This includes appeals, writs of habeas corpus, writs of prohibition, writs of mandate, and motions for new trial. She zealously represents clients in both state and federal court.
Ms. Ferguson has argued cases in the United States Central and Eastern District Courts of California, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth and Tenth Circuits. She is known for aggressively attacking the validity of a clients conviction and sentence. She persistently pursues her claims by taking each case through the entire appellate process and, if necessary, to the United States Supreme Court.
Susan Ferguson has earned a reputation for generating results in cases that others thought were impossible. For instance, after losing a case in the United States District Court and in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, Ms. Ferguson filed a petition for Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. The petition was granted and the judgement against her client was vacated.
Ms. Ferguson is also known for her exceptional ability to absorb and analyze the law in a broad variety of circumstances and strongly believes that a good attorney is always learning. As a result, she has appellate experience in numerous states such as California, Texas, Florida, South Carolina, and New York. She has attacked convictions for attempted murder, murder, child pornography, sexual assault and various drug and gang related crimes.
Her exceptional ability to succeed in a wide variety of areas began early on. Ms. Ferguson graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles with a Bachelors Degree in Philosophy. She obtained her Juris Doctor from Southwestern University School of Law where she was a member of the Moot Court Honors Program.
In addition to her academic achievements, Ms. Ferguson is also an award winning writer -- an important skill for an appellate attorney. For example, she was also a best writer finalist in the Southwestern Intramural Moot Court Competition and a recipient of a brief award for Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.
Ms. Ferguson is not only aggressive and persistent, but she is deeply dedicated to the constitutional rights of the accused. After graduating from law school she volunteered for the Individual Rights Foundation and worked for the Human Rights Project located in Los Angeles, California. According to Ms. Ferguson, the primary objective of a criminal appellate attorney is to ensure that every defendant receives a fair trial and that no person has been unjustly convicted. |
- Argued -- and won -- a writ to the U.S. Supreme Court
- Highly experienced in both State and Federal Courts
- Repeatedly generated overturned verdicts by lower courts
- Expert in all aspects of the post-conviction process
- Graduated with honors from a top law school
- Award winning writer
- Active in many individual rights organizations
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Jury Misconduct
After conviction for various sex offenses, Ms. Ferguson appealed alleging that defendant was deprived of his right to a fair trial based on jury misconduct. The Court of Appeals agreed and reversed the conviction in full.
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Insufficient Evidence
Ms. Ferguson appealed a conviction for a string of robberies and successfully reversed five counts for insufficient evidence on the grounds that the only similarity between the robberies was the defendant?s race. The Court of Appeals agreed and the defendant?s sentence was reduced by 7 years.
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Sentencing
Ms. Ferguson challenged a 25 year federal sentence for possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute on the grounds that the sentence violated our the defendant?s equal protection rights.
Although the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeal disagreed, the United States Supreme Court heard the case and vacated the illegal sentence. In another Tenth Circuit case, the United States Supreme Court summarily granted Ms. Ferguson?s petition for writ of certiorari and sent the case back to the Tenth Circuit for further proceedings.
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