Education
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
State University of New York at Oswego
Admissions
State Bar of New York
U.S. District Courts:
Southern District of New York
Eastern District of New York
Appellate Courts:
United States Supreme Court
Biography
Isabelle A. Kirshner is one of New York’s premier criminal defense attorneys. She has won acquittals for her clients in both state and federal court. Isabelle has more than thirty years of experience defending individuals and entities in a wide range of criminal matters including investigations and prosecutions relating to securities fraud, money laundering, bank fraud, tax fraud, as well as distribution of crystal methamphetamine, opioids, and allegations of sexual misconduct. She has represented clients at every stage of criminal proceedings, from the inception of a criminal investigation through indictment and trial.
Isabelle has tried cases involving a wide range of criminal charges, including one of the largest criminal tax shelter cases ever brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. Among her successes is an acquittal of murder and racketeering charges in a multi-defendant case in federal court, acquittal of all charges in a conspiracy case in which she successfully asserted an entrapment defense on behalf of her client and an acquittal of all charges in a federal Hobbs Act and conspiracy case.
She has successfully represented a number of individuals in high profile matters, including the former Attorney General of the State of New York.
Isabelle served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office from 1982 to 1986. Thereafter, she entered the private sector as a criminal defense attorney, and joined Clayman & Rosenberg in 2005.
Isabelle sits on the Peer Review Committee for the Criminal Justice Act and the Criminal Justice Advocacy Board for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She serves on the Central Screening Committee for the 18B Panel for New York County. She served as a member of District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s transition committee. She is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers.
In 2018, Isabelle was the recipient of Gideon’s Promise Equalizer Award and in 2019, she received the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Thurgood Marshall Practitioner of the Year Award. In 2020, Isabelle received the Norman S. Ostrow Award from the New York Council of Defense Lawyers.
Representative Matters
Representative Matters
- Represented a doctor accused of abusing patients which resulted in a non-jail disposition
- Successful representation of a business owner accused of bank fraud involving the theft of over $300 million dollars
- Represented at trial a partner of one of the country’s Big Four accounting companies in a tax shelter case. Charges against the client were ultimately dismissed
- Representation of a doctor accused of unlawful distribution of opioids.
- Persuaded the Special Prosecutor to decline to bring criminal charges against the former attorney general of the State of New York
- Represented a client in a large securities fraud case which resulted in a sentence that was almost half that of her co-defendant
- Successfully represented an individual in a high-profile case in which charges resulted from an assault on an NYPD officer
- Represented a number of individuals in different matters charged with the distribution of narcotics and crystal methamphetamine
- Represented an individual indicted for bribing a high-level U.N. official. The client received a sentence well below the guidelines and was permitted to leave the country immediately after her release from custody
- Achieved an acquittal of a client accused of a Hobbs Act murder in a major narcotics conspiracy in Federal Court
- Represented an individual accused of misappropriating confidential banking information. No criminal charges were brought
- Represented a number of individuals accused of a wide range of sexual misconduct
Highlights
- Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (an organization comprised of the nation’s elite trial lawyers) and served as Chairperson of its Downstate Committee for two years.
- Selected as “Super Lawyer” in the New York City metro area every year since 2008.
- Awarded the 2019 New York Sate Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Thurgood Marshall Practitioner of the Year Award.
- Recipient of the 2018 Gideon’s Promise Equalizer Award.