The initial determination of your eligibility for the sealing of your criminal conviction is required prior to the filing with the Court your formal motion for the record sealing.

The law requires the following essential criteria for a determination of eligibility:

1. Your convictions for misdemeanor and non-violent felony offenses must have occurred 10 years prior to the date that we file your motion. The Court may seal up to two convictions. (only one of which may be a felony).

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2. You must have remained crime free from the date of your prior conviction(s).

3. We must establish that you are of good character and that you have led a productive life and achieved rehabilitation.

Additional criteria, such as the seriousness of the offense and the impact of sealing upon public safety, must also be established to the satisfaction of the Court in our formal motion.

We have provided the following SEALING QUESTIONNAIRE, the completion of which is the essential first step toward the sealing of your record.

Once we have obtained your completed questionnaire, our office will be required to access the court records of your conviction to analyze the specific crime of conviction and the facts and circumstances of your case.

This will require your completion of the enclosed AUTHORIZATION FORM, which we will need to present, in person, to the Clerk of the Court to access and obtain the complete criminal record of your case. Your authorization to us to act as your attorney will permit us to obtain these essential records and analyze same to determine your eligibility for sealing.

This process of accessing, obtaining and analyzing your records will involve substantial time and effort on our firm’s part and may require a period of time for the Clerk to obtain from archives your criminal records.

Our fee for this initial phase of our representation will be $350. If you are determined to be eligible for formal application for the record sealing and you retain our firm to represent you in this formal motion practice, required by the new law, to successfully effect the sealing of your record, the $350 will act as a credit toward our fee for the formal motion practice.

Even if you are not eligible to have your record sealed at this time, you may be eligible for and wish to consider an application to the Court for a Certificate of Relief from Civil Disabilities.

We can prepare that motion for you to present to the Court. If granted, the Court Order granting the Relief would remove all bars which would otherwise result from your conviction, including the right to obtain employment from a public or governmental agency and the right to vote again. If you are interested in pursuing this option, please provide us with the information regarding your conviction and

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A formal legal motion for the sealing of your record is required by the new law to be authored and presented to the Court, which sentenced you. That motion must address and establish the criteria previously discussed and fully contained within the new law.

(Criminal Procedure Law Section 160.59; a copy of that statute is set out in Section 2)

Your motion will be prepared by the lawyers and professional staff of our firm. The essential and unique facts and circumstances of your case, as well as your good character and recent productive background, will be contained within your detailed formal legal motion.

Once completed, we will file your motion for sealing with the appropriate court and prosecutor’s (District Attorney’s) office.

The District Attorney is given the right by the law to review our motion and submit an answer thereto.

If the District Attorney does not oppose our motion, it is anticipated that it will be granted quickly by the Court. If the District Attorney opposes our motion, we will then argue its merits during a formal hearing by the Court.

Our extensive experience as criminal defense litigators for over 30 years in the various Courts of the State, before the Judges, who will conduct the hearing and decide our motion, stands us in good stead, as your representatives in this hearing process.

During the hearing, we will forcefully argue our motion and aggressively advocate

on your behalf. We will present and establish all of the criteria required by law to warrant and justify the sealing of your criminal conviction.

Once the hearing has been completed, the Court will render its decision on our sealing motion.

Once a sealing motion is successfully decided, the Court will issue a formal order sealing your record. The original of that order will then be provided to you as proof of the sealing.

The immensely favorable effect of the successful sealing of your record is discussed in Section 2, New Sealing Law.