NiaLena is a passionate and relentless advocate who doesn't take no for an answer. Through her boutique law practice, she gives personal, undivided, and often 'round-the-clock attention to all clients in an effort to provide the absolute best defense possible. As a strong believer in Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken," NiaLena often chooses to travel "the road less traveled by" and, as a result, many of her courtroom successes as a criminal defense lawyer have come in matters that others considered hopeless.
NiaLena concentrates her law practice primarily in federal criminal defense and in very serious state criminal cases and has substantial experience in high-profile federal criminal cases and in extremely complicated federal criminal cases involving extensive electronic surveillance and wiretaps. Throughout the years, NiaLena has achieved successful results in difficult cases including but not limited to federal drug trafficking, federal firearms violations, sex crimes, death penalty homicides, organized crime, RICO / racketeering, PCRA, federal habeas, federal grand jury investigations, fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, white collar crime, political corruption, and federal sentencing downward departures.
NiaLena's federal criminal defense practice extends not only to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (including Philadelphia and its surrounding counties of Delaware County, Montgomery County, Bucks County, Berks County, Chester County, Lehigh County, Lancaster County, and Northampton County) and the Middle District of Pennsylvania (including Harrisburg, Scranton, Williamsport, and Wilkes-Barre), but also to the District of New Jersey (including Camden, Trenton, and Newark) and multiple jurisdictions in the United States. Her varied federal criminal clients have included the following:
-- Alleged kingpins of major drug trafficking organizations;
-- Alleged made member of La Cosa Nostra (LCN);
-- A medical doctor;
-- A powerful Senator;
-- An Arab American;
-- CEO of an out-of-state mortgage company (Please visit Avvo.com by clicking on the "Links" page of this website in order to read the full client review entitled "She Tamed The Beast" in which the client, the former CEO of his company, describes NiaLena as being "available to me 24/7 not 24/5 during the entire process" with "every decision she made [being] dead on, skillfully crafting my case to a very positive outcome ... more than I ever hoped for" while "she tamed the beast of a system that could have ended my life in prison");
-- Principal of nationwide advertising agency;
-- Olympic boxer hopeful;
-- World-touring musician;
-- Fellow Lawyers;
-- University students (Please visit Avvo.com by clicking on the "Links" page of this website in order to read the full client review entitled "A lawyer and a friend" in which the client, who expresses that he is "forever grateful for what she has done," describes NiaLena as "highly skilled and professional" who "went the extra mile and then some in dealing with my case" and made "sure not only me but my entire family knew what was going on every step of the way");
-- Many other fellow citizens.
Early in her career, NiaLena was the youngest and only female attorney to defend a reputed organized crime figure in the federal RICO prosecution of United States v. Joseph Merlino. Following a trial that lasted nearly five months and that marked the first time that an alleged mob boss, Ralph Natale, became an informant and testified on behalf of the government, the jury acquitted her client, Frank Gambino, of attempted murder and racketeering charges, and her closing argument was subsequently selected among nationwide submissions and spotlighted as featured defense advocate by Center for Criminal Justice Advocacy in Houston.
She has since become lead counsel in numerous serious multi-defendant federal criminal cases and was recently the youngest and only female member of the defense trial team representing Senator Vincent Fumo, long regarded as the most powerful politician in Pennsylvania, in his five-month high-profile trial in federal court. At trial, NiaLena was the co-author of an emergency motion that made headline news in various local and national forums, including The New York Times and ABC News, regarding the request to halt the jury deliberations based upon the novel legal issue of social networking on Internet sites such as Facebook and Twitter by a juror during the Senator's political corruption trial. Click on "Links" on the left to read the New York Times and ABC News articles.
Recently retained to represent a Washington D.C. senior executive of a Fortune 500 financial company and a New York Arab-American, both of whom are facing federal criminal charges, NiaLena has been described by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Philadelphia Daily News as a "deliberate, sincere, extremely thorough, and tireless advocate" with "courtroom poise" and by one of the most respected and recognized crime reporters in the country, George Anastasia, in The Last Gangster as "no-nonsense." Her efforts to always leave no stone unturned were also acknowledged on the record at the end of May 2010 during her representation of the principal of a nationwide advertising agency in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania when the Honorable Paul S. Diamond stated, "You've put an enormous amount of work into this. I want you to know how much I appreciate all the work you've done. I certainly hope your client appreciates it as well."
Moreover, NiaLena very much appreciates all of the wonderful reviews posted by clients as well as endorsements posted by colleagues on Avvo.com, some of which are highlighted on her website. All visitors are invited to visit NiaLena's website at www.nialenacaravasos.com and to read the full client reviews and endorsements on www.avvo.com