Margaret Love specializes in executive clemency and restoration of rights, sentencing and corrections policy, and legal and government ethics. She has written and lectured widely on pardon policy and practice, and on the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction, and is recognized as one of the nation’s leading authorities on clemency and related relief issues.
Ms. Love served as U.S. Pardon Attorney between 1990 and 1997, and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Collateral Consequences Resource Center, a non-profit organization established in 2014 to promote public engagement on the myriad issues raised by the legal restrictions and societal stigma that burden people with a criminal record long after their criminal case is closed.
Since leaving public office, she has successfully represented numerous individuals with federal convictions in the clemency process. She also advises individuals with state convictions who are interested in avoiding or mitigating the collateral consequences of conviction.
Ms. Love also represents clients seeking other types of clemency, including reduction (commutation) of a prison sentence. With the abolition of parole for federal sentences imposed after 1987, commutation is virtually the only way to reduce a prison term.
White Collar Week Tuesday Speaker Series: Glenn E. Martin, Entrepreneur, Activist & Founder of JustLeadershipUSA, GEMtrainers and GEMrealestate, on Zoom, Sept. 12, 2023
We were honored to have Glenn E. Martin as the September speaker in our White Collar Support Group Tuesday Speaker Series. Open to all!
For over two decades, Glenn E. Martin successfully founded and directed a handful of national organizations in the non-profit sector. Glenn has occupied the role of “visionary”, while developing a strong track record in the more pragmatic aspects of building and running successful organizations, including fundraising, operations, administration, and communications.
Before launching both GEMrealestate and GEMtrainers, a multi-state real estate investment company and a successful non-profit consultancy, respectively, Glenn founded and served as President of JustLeadershipUSA, an organization he built as a tribute to his son Joshua, dedicated to cutting the U.S. correctional population in half by 2030. For over 20 years, since leaving prison, he’s been a part of the vanguard of successful reform advocates in America. Glenn has a quote that he coined in prison in 2000 that guides the work of GEMtrainers:
“People closest to the problem are closest to the solution but furthest from POWER and RESOURCES.”
Since launching GEMtrainers, Glenn has served as a confidential, trusted advisor and strategic thought partner to leaders driving social justice change. From fundraising, organizational development, and crisis management to the development and implementation of multi-year strategic plans, Glenn brings almost 25 years of leadership and operational experience to the table.
His leadership has been recognized with multiple honors, including the 2016 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, the 2017 Brooke Astor Award, and the 2014 Echoing Green Fellowship. He is also a Founding Member of the Council on Criminal Justice. Prior to founding JustLeadershipUSA, Glenn was the Vice President of The Fortune Society, where he founded and led the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy. He also served as the Co-Director of the National HIRE Network at the Legal Action Center, and co-founded the Education from the Inside Out Coalition. He’s also the founder and visionary behind the #CLOSErikers campaign in NYC.
Glenn has served as a public speaker and has been a media guest appearing on national news outlets such as NPR, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, Al Jazeera and CSPAN. You can follow him at @glennEmartin on Twitter.
For over half a century, the Legal Action Center has been the only nonprofit law and policy organization in the United States whose sole mission is to fight discrimination against people with arrest or conviction records, substance use disorders, HIV, and AIDS, and to advocate for sound public policies in those areas.
We hope you’ll join us as we build upon our many accomplishments over the past five decades, and work to expand our capacity to advocate for systemic change, set important legal precedents, and provide legal services, education, and training to help people across the country.
Arthur Liman Public Interest Awards Benefit: Tuesday, November 7, 2023 Tribeca Rooftop 10 Desbrosses Street, New York, NY Cocktail-Style Dinner Reception | 6:00 pm ET Awards Program | 7:00 pm ET Business Attire
For more information about our 2023 Arthur Liman Public Interest Awards Benefit, or LAC’s important work, please contact Sang Kim, Deputy Director of Individual & Corporate Giving at [email protected], (212) 243-1313 or email [email protected].
Sam Patten is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets on Zoom on Monday evenings.
We were honored to have Sam Patten as the July speaker in our White Collar Support Group Tuesday Speaker Series.
Information about our White Collar Support Group: http://prisonist.org
Sam Patten is a communications strategist, author of the forthcoming memoir Dangerous Company: The Misadventures of a ‘Foreign Agent,’ long-time political operative in the U.S. and globally, and a felon re-entering society after being convicted in a high-profile investigation of Russian meddling in U.S. elections.
The ninth American to be convicted of failing to register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act of 1938, Patten cooperated with former special counsel Robert Mueller’s 2018-19 probe and pleaded guilty to the lobbying charge, for which he was sentenced to three years probation. Prior to this, Sam worked as an advisor to political leaders in other countries, including Iraq, Ukraine, Georgia, the DR Congo and many others. It was his work for a Ukrainian political party that landed him in the crosshairs of U.S. investigators.
During the second administration of George W. Bush, Sam served as a senior advisor to the undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs. He’d also worked extensively in the field for the International Republican Institute (IRI) as the democracy group’s country director in Russia (2001-4) and political director in Iraq (2004-5). He also ran Freedom House’s Eurasian programs from 2009-11, with a focus on Central Asia. In 2000, Sam coordinated Bush’s campaign in Maine, where he had been working for U.S. Senator Susan Collins and U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe. Growing up on the coast of Maine, Sam has — like sea captains who lived there a centuries ago — long been fascinated with the lands beyond America’s shores.
In college, he studied the Soviet Union just as it was falling apart, and in the early 1990s, he found a way to Kazakhstan, where he worked as a teacher and advisor to energy companies. Both Sam’s parents are the children of foreign service officers, and both are direct descendants of John Jay, America’s first minister of foreign affairs and chief justice of the Supreme Court.
Upon completing his sentence in the Washington, DC area, Sam returned to Maine, where he lives with his dog, Pepper. He volunteers to teach in state prisons, and is a justice ambassador for Prison Fellowship.
About Dangerous Company: The Misadventures of a “Foreign Agent”:
Pulsing with action from the first page to the last, Dangerous Company is a memoir that reads like a thriller. Sam Patten left U.S. politics behind when he went overseas to promote democracy in the first administration of George W. Bush. Then he became an advisor to political leaders in countries like Iraq, Georgia, Ukraine, the Congo, Thailand and Mexico. When Washington went on the hunt for anyone who could have helped the Russians elect Donald Trump as U.S. president, Patten was a “usual suspect.” Following charges referred by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, he was convicted in 2018 of failing to register as foreign agent under a seldom-enforced 1938 statute.
Patten gives us front row seats to Russia during Vladimir Putin’s early years, the newly independent states where “color revolutions” ushered in both democratic change and more corruption, and the inside of a legal hurricane that consumed the administration of Donald Trump. But beyond the action, this is a story of an America that may no longer exist. Patten’s adventures seem to be chasing the twilight of the American Century – from World War I to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The time when the United States sought to influence powers around the world has faded into the present moment, where there is more discussion about which countries are influencing us. Dangerous Company: Misadventures of a ‘Foreign Agent’ is a fast-paced, colorful and at times insightful account of an American abroad and at home over the past quarter century.
To reach Sam Patten: [email protected] To order Sam’s book: http://dangerouscompanybook.com/ White Collar Week June ’23 Newsletter: https://conta.cc/3BZQIMR Sponsored by Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.: https://prisonist.org Sponsored by GrantLaw, PLLC: https://grantlaw.com
Craig Stanland is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets on Zoom on Monday evenings. On Monday, June 19, 2023 we will hold our 365th weekly meeting.
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I wanted it to be done.
I don’t know what done actually meant, I just knew I wanted it, and I wanted it more than I wanted anything.
I’m referring to how I felt after I was arrested by the FBI.
I wanted the situation to be over, but I couldn’t see the other side; I had no idea what it looked like, so I just wished it was done.
And I spent quite a bit of time in this limbo of purgatory.
Intellectually I knew my circumstance and sentence had an expiration date, but it felt emotionally infinite.
Sometimes I live in my intellect; most of the time, especially when it’s all-consuming, like the uncertainty of prison and life after prison, I live in the emotional.
I don’t know what shifted, but my mentality shifted ever so slightly, but enough to make a huge difference.
I transformed from wanting to be done to wanting to make it through.
I still didn’t know what the other side looked like, but I desperately wanted to make it there. And this energy was enough to help me move forward, to slowly but surely put one foot in front of the other.
Carrying the wickedly heavy burden of shame, guilt, unworthiness, and inadequacy, a burden so heavy there were more times than I can count that I thought I’d collapse under its weight.
But sometimes all we have, and it’s all I could find, was a burning desire to just make it through.
I don’t know what the energy was that kept me going; maybe it was the desire to actually find out what was on the other side, but I experienced another shift, and this was the shift that changed everything.
It was the moment I understood that the burden I was carrying, the shame, guilt, unworthiness, and inadequacy, contained a gift.
I saw the diamond in the coal.
It was the story of how I carried that burden up to this point and how I’d carry it to the mysterious other side.
Understanding that I could alchemize my journey in a meaningful and vulnerable way that could help someone who’s two steps behind where I am now and desperately wants to be two steps ahead.
My pain could be of service; it had a purpose, and now so did I.
Something extraordinary happened at this moment:
The burden that moments ago was almost crushing me grew lighter.
I took myself out of the equation; I don’t carry the burden for myself; I carry it for others.
And that’s the moment I made it to the other side.
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Craig Stanland is a Reinvention Architect & Mindset Coach, TEDx & Keynote Speaker, and the Best-Selling Author of “Blank Canvas, How I Reinvented My Life After Prison.” He specializes in working with high-achievers who’ve chased success, money, and status in their 1st half, only to find a success-sized hole in their lives. He helps them unleash their full potential, break free from autopilot, draft a new life blueprint, and connect with their Life’s Mission so they can live extraordinary lives with purpose, meaning, and fulfillment. Craig can be reached at [email protected].
Jeff Grant is Co-Founder of both Progressive Prison Ministries Inc. and GrantLaw, PLLC, and host Matt Adams is Co-Chair of Fox Rothschild’s White-Collar Criminal Defense & Regulatory Compliance Practice Group. Thank you Matt Adams and your team at Fox Rothschild LLP for your great warmth and empathy in this open and candid conversation. I don’t think I’ve ever before shared in such detail the depths of my prescription opioid addiction, the wreckage it caused my career, my family and myself, and then my road of redemption through service to others. I hope my story will serve as a beacon of hope to people out there who are suffering in silence.
Jeffrey D. (Jeff) Grant, co-founder of both Progressive Prison Ministries and GrantLaw PLLC, joins Matthew S. Adams on The Presumption of Innocence to share his powerful story of redemption after being disbarred and incarcerated for lying on a post-9/11 SBA loan.
Their discussion shines a light on the darkness of Jeff’s experiences and explains how, by taking responsibility for his actions, he now devotes his life to helping people prosecuted for white-collar crimes.
In May 2021, Jeff’s law license was reinstated by the New York Supreme Court. In August 2022, Jeff celebrated 20 years clean and sober.
Episode 22: Reclaiming Purpose: A Transformative Journey Through Addiction, Rehab and Prison
In a powerful and inspiring episode, Jeff Grant, co-founder of both Progressive Prison Ministries Inc. and GrantLaw, PLLC, joins host Matt Adams, Co-Chair of Fox Rothschild’s White-Collar Criminal Defense & Regulatory Compliance Practice Group, to share his story of redemption. About 25 years ago, Jeff experienced a downward spiral stemming from a prescription opioid addiction that twisted his lucrative legal career into criminal behavior. Despite a successful stint in rehab, he was disbarred and incarcerated for lying on a post-9/11 SBA loan.
This riveting discussion shines a light into the darkness of Jeff’s experiences and explains how, by taking responsibility for his actions, Jeff now devotes his life to helping people prosecuted for white-collar crimes and their families.
Note: This episode contains discussion of substance abuse and attempted suicide.
The New Yorker: Life After White CollarCrime, by Evan Osnos, Aug. 2021: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/30/life-after-white-collar-crime
Staff writer, Evan Osnos, for the New Yorker Magazine described my guest Jeff Grant this way,
“Jeff Grant is the real deal; he’s candid and generous with his wisdom. I can’t imagine there is a lawyer in the country more qualified to consider the complex issues facing people prosecuted for white collar crimes and their families.”
Incredible quote and could not be more true. Jeff was a high flying successful New York real estate attorney. He became addicted to prescription opioids after a tear in in his Achilles tendon playing basketball. HIs life when into a dark spiral from dipping into his clients escrow accounts to creating loan fraud with a government SBA loan. He lost his law license and eventually received a 14 month sentence in Federal Prison. What he did with his life after getting out of prison is nothing short of remarkable and inspiring. He became an ordained minister earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary, majoring in Social Ethics. After graduating from divinity school , Jeff was called to serve at an inner city church in Bridgeport, CT as associate minister and Director of Prison Ministries. He then co-founded Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry dedicated to people navigating the white collar criminal justice system. On May 5, 2021, Jeff’s law license was reinstated by the Supreme Court of the State of New York. On August 10, 2022 he celebrated 20 years of continuous sobriety. He is now committed to using his legal expertise and life experience to benefit others. He is the founder of the first national White Collar Support group with over 700 members nationwide. Jeff is vulnerable and real with how he leads us through his journey of overcoming and being set free to find and serve his passion. A true nightmare success story!
White Collar Week Tuesday Speaker Series, On Zoom, Tues., June 20, 2023, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT: David B. Smith, Esq., Federal Restitution & Forfeiture Collection Expert
We are honored to have David B. Smith, Esq. as the June speaker in our White Collar Support Group Tuesday Speaker Series.
Link to register: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJctcOyqpj8vHdW39HWfPnWWSXpvL-caJI_S
Information about our White Collar Support Group: http://prisonist.org
David has over 40 years of white collar criminal experience. He has litigated scores of cases and argued more than one hundred federal criminal appeals as a federal prosecutor and defense attorney, including extensive experience with civil and criminal litigation in the Supreme Court of the United States. He has been repeatedly named in the list of preeminent lawyers in the field of white collar criminal defense by Best Lawyers in America (2012-2023) and Virginia Super Lawyers (2009-2023), and has received the President’s Commendation for outstanding service from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in 1993, 1994, and 2004. He served for nine years on the Board of the NACDL and has been Chair of its Forfeiture Committee since 1990. He is also a Vice-Chair of its Amicus Committee.
For nearly a decade prior to entering private practice, David was a prosecutor in the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice and at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he was involved in complex white collar criminal investigations, trials, and appeals involving defense procurement fraud, congressional bribery, espionage, tax evasion, mail fraud, false claims and other crimes. In 1995-1996, he served as an Associate Independent Counsel in the investigation of Michael Espy, the former secretary of agriculture.
David is regarded as the foremost expert in the country on asset forfeiture and restitution law and practice. He is the author of the leading two-volume legal treatise on forfeiture, Prosecution and Defense of Forfeiture Cases (2023), published by Matthew Bender, and co-author of Civil RICO (2023), also published by Matthew Bender. He has testified before congressional committees several times with respect to forfeiture, restitution, and money laundering legislation. David has regularly counseled the Senate and House Judiciary Committees on forfeiture legislation, and was heavily involved in drafting the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000. He has also assisted the federal advisory committees in writing the procedural rules governing criminal and civil forfeiture proceedings. In 2000-2001, David was appointed by Senator Richard Shelby (R. Ala.), the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to serve as a Commissioner with the Judicial Review Commission on Foreign Asset Control.
“And I must thank David Smith, who has been there since the beginning. David helped me draft my first forfeiture reform bill – the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 1993 – and helped draft Senators Leahy’s and Hatch’s reform bill, and helped draft the Senate-passed bill we are considering today. This bill is truly his accomplishment.” —House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL)
