On February 1, 2008, Wesley Snipes and his lead trial attorneys at Bernhoft Law made worldwide headline news when an all-white jury in Ocala, Florida, found Snipes not guilty on all felony counts after a dramatic three-week trial.
It was a decision that caught legal “experts” throughout the country by complete surprise. They had predicted that Snipes would easily be convicted on the conspiracy and tax fraud felony counts, and face up to 16 years in prison. “It's the unwinnable case in the impossible place,” cackled one cable news pundit.
But for those who knew about Bernhoft Law's unusually high acquittal rate in previous tax trials, and who were aware of the radical strategy the firm was willing to execute throughout the Snipes litigation, the stunning defeat of the government’s attempt to secure multiple felony convictions came as scant surprise. (Snipes was convicted on three of six misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to file a tax return.)
The story of how the Bernhoft Law firm pulled off the impossible is told in the videos linked above.
On January 13, 2008, Orlando ABC-affiliate WFTV posted an amazing video on its website: a 12-minute single-take interview with Robert Bernhoft, Wesley Snipes’ lead attorney during Snipes’ tax trial.
The oratory skills, the grace under pressure, and Bernhoft’s uncanny ability to synthesize complex legal themes are on ample display. This interview is raw, uncut, and its subject must deliver without a trace of video trickery. The report was viewed 4,121 times on WFTV’s website in the first two hours after posting by a populace rabidly interested in Snipes’ trial, which was to begin the next day.
If you are a potential client who needs a lawyer for high-stakes, bet-the-ranch litigation, you should watch this video. It’s one-of-a-kind.
Robert Bernhoft interview with Claude Brodesser-Akner of NPR
When National Public Radio wanted to devote a show to lawyers who have to work in the glare of the media spotlight, it turned to Robert Bernhoft of Bernhoft Law. Click 'Play Program' to hear an edited version of the NPR program 'Celebrities Can Be Taxing,' which was originally broadcast on NPR's KCRW-FM show 'The Business' on April 14, 2008.
