Andrew Lindsey is a valued member of the firm’s Northern Virginia legal team, but has litigated criminal cases from border to border of the Commonwealth. He has won the trust, praise, and respect of prosecutors and judges in multiple jurisdictions, as well as the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission. He has experience resolving cases before trial, or reducing a clients' sentence who hired him after their initial trial was lost. Andrew believes that criminal cases are not decided by truth nor fairness, but by evidence. As a result, his approach to criminal cases is heavily centered on controlling and anticipating the evidence that would be presented by both sides at trial. Despite the Virginia Rules of Evidence being both technical and strict, he is known for pursuing creative ways to get preferred facts and arguments translated into admissible evidence for his clients. Andrew views criminal defense litigation as a team-based effort. This includes having valuable relationships with current judges and prosecutors who were prior criminal defense colleagues. Additionally, he consults his clients through each decision and step of their case, empowering them to make decisions by clearly explaining the legal context of any issues that may arise. At the same time, he prepares clients for the large amount of uncertainty involved in the local criminal justice system, and is ready to adapt case strategies based on dynamically-unfolding circumstances. He has a successful track record of resolving cases before trial with legal motions or favorable plea negotiations, and is highly successful in restoring gun rights throughout NoVA. Andrew has been practicing criminal defense law in the Commonwealth of Virginia since he graduated from law school, and prides himself on providing unrelenting and creative legal advocacy for every single client charged with any kind of crime. With almost a decade of experience exclusively in VA criminal defense law, he has handled multiple appeals to the Virginia Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Virginia, and has even overturned sentences imposed by the Virginia Parole Board long after criminal cases have ended. In order to continually provide exceptional service, Andrew also attends well over the 12 hours’ worth of required Virginia Continuing Legal Education (“CLE”) trainings each year. Andrew graduated cum laude from William & Mary Law School, where he focused in civil rights & criminal law. As a law student, he received top grades in relevant coursework, participated in criminal law moot court competitions, and wrote multiple scholarly articles published in William & Mary’s legal internet blogs, as well as its nationally-renowned Bill of Rights Journal, including his article on Virginia capital punishment. He also acquired valuable experience working for defense attorneys, prosecutors, and judges alike at the state and federal levels in Virginia and Washington, D.C: including Virginia’s Central Capital Defender Office, the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. After law school, Andrew spent four years defending Virginians from criminal prosecutions as an attorney in the Alexandria and Suffolk Public Defender offices, as well as a private criminal defense attorney in Fairfax and Prince William Counties. In that time, he worked on cases ranging from the lowest of misdemeanors to the highest of felonies covered by the news media, and consistently satisfied clients of all different financial and cultural backgrounds. Andrew lives in Fairfax County, Virginia and is happily married with children. Although originally from Texas, he keeps regular company with family and family friends in the DMV area, as well as further south along the East Coast. He primarily enjoys visiting breweries, distilleries, comedy clubs, and state/national parks and is a regular runner.

Kellie Budd received her law degree from George Mason University School of Law and is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia. Kellie represents individual and business clients on a wide variety of matters including employment issues, entity formation, contract drafting,and litigating business disputes in state and federal courts. Kellie is licensed to practice in Virginia and is admitted to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. She is a member of the Fairfax Bar Association and is a former President of the Northern Virginia Black Attorney’s Association.

Kaveh Noorishad represents clients in criminal and civil litigation across Virginia state courts and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He has handled matters ranging from traffic violations and DUI/DWI cases to violent crimes and liability cases. Recognized as a Super Lawyer, Rising Star, and Top 100 National Trial Attorney, he also holds a 10.0 AVVO rating, with his work featured in outlets such as The Washington Post, NBC, and ESPN. If you are facing criminal charges or need strong representation in a civil matter, contact Mr. Noorishad today at 703-542-4500 or complete our contact form online to discuss your case.

Scott Nolan is a Partner in the Virginia Criminal Defense practice, representing clients in both state and federal courts. He is known for his direct, rights-focused advocacy and his commitment to providing clear guidance and strong defense strategies at every stage of a case. Scott concentrates his practice on criminal defense, with a focus on DUI, reckless driving, drug offenses, and serious felony cases. He has handled a high volume of matters from pre-arrest representation through trial and appeal and brings a strategic, detail-driven approach to negotiations and litigation alike. He earned his law degree from George Mason University and holds advanced degrees in national security studies and political science. Prior to practicing law, Scott served in the United States Navy and worked in national security-related roles, experiences that shaped his disciplined approach and deep respect for constitutional protections.

Ms. Berry is the managing partner and has a wide range of experience in the representation of federal, public, and private sector employees as well as small business organizations. Her practice focuses on employment, retirement, business, and contract law. Ms. Berry specializes in federal employee retirement issues before the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and other federal agencies. In particular, Ms. Berry has represented federal employees in matters involving federal employee retirement issues under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), CSRS Offset, and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). Many of her retirement matters have involved federal agency retirement errors in connection with the Federal Erroneous Retirement Coverage Correction Act (FERCCA), litigation with OPM and numerous other federal agencies over survivor annuitants’ benefits due to OPM errors and erroneous advice, issues involving former spousal benefits under Court Orders Acceptable for Processing (COAP) or Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDRO), federal law enforcement officer (LEO) and firefighter (FF) eligibility for special federal retirement benefits, and other federal employment retirement-related issues. Ms. Berry further specializes in the drafting, reviewing, and negotiating of severance, confidentiality/non-disclosure, non-compete, non-solicitation, and various other employment agreements. She also advises on business start-up and creation issues, contract drafting and review, and certain wage and hour issues. This representation includes executives and employees in various professions as well as solo practitioners, small businesses, and large organizations. Ms. Berry has litigated numerous Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) matters on behalf of federal and private sector employees against various federal agencies and private employers involving all types of discrimination and retaliation claims. In addition, Ms. Berry has handled grievance matters before county and federal agencies. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Berry served as Interim General Counsel and a corporate officer of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), the largest nonprofit conservation organization in the United States. Ms. Berry has also served as a speaker at Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars and other events, and provided legal training to staff on regulation compliance matters as well as business owners, independent contractors and solo practitioners in contract and business compliance matters. While Ms. Berry was a member of the Association of Corporate Counsel, she presented legal seminars as a faculty member on various legal issues of relevance to in-house counsel of business organizations.

Mr. Berry is the founding partner and represents federal employees, government contractors, employers, state employees, federal intelligence agency employees, law enforcement officers, firefighters, private sector employees, in various employment, labor and national security law matters. Mr. Berry’s primary practice areas include security clearance defense, disciplinary action defense, administrative investigation representation, and representation in equal employment opportunity (EEO) claims. For federal employees and government contractors, Mr. Berry represents them nationwide in security clearance appeals and federal disciplinary actions. Mr. Berry frequently defends federal employees in proposed removals, proposed suspensions, and performance matters before their respective agencies; represents federal employees in appeals before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB); represents individuals in Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint matters before respective federal agencies and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); and represents federal employees and government contractors in security clearance matters before the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) and the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA). In addition, Mr. Berry represents security clearance holders before all federal agencies (DoS, DoD, DoE) and those federal agencies within the Intelligence Community (NRO, NGA, CIA, DIA, NSA). Mr. Berry has represented hundreds of individuals in administrative investigations conducted by agency investigators, inspectors general (IG), internal affairs unit investigators and before the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) of various federal agencies. Mr. Berry also represents private sector, state, county, and municipal employees in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia in various types of investigations, county and state grievance procedures, disciplinary actions, whistleblower issues, and equal employment opportunity (EEO) matters. Mr. Berry previously served as the General Counsel to the United States Park Police and United States Capitol Police Federal Labor Unions representing law enforcement officers in disciplinary, wage and security clearance matters. Mr. Berry has also served as counsel for local businesses involving issues related to wage and hour matters, Human Resources Policy development, and employment legal defense. He is a security clearance lawyer and member of the Security Clearance Lawyers Association. Mr. Berry has been interviewed on radio and television networks, like CNN, and written and commented on articles for news organizations such as the Washington Post and others. He has taught continuing education courses for lawyers in his practice areas. He has written several published legal articles on various topics regarding employment and labor law as well as security clearance law. Mr. Berry authors articles for ClearanceJobs. In addition, he previously served as the Editor-in-Chief of the District of Columbia Bar Labor and Employment Law Newsletter and served as a guest speaker for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars on administrative, employment and labor law issues. Mr. Berry frequently provides legal guidance and training to Human Resources personnel of companies, nonprofit entities, and labor unions. In 2009, Mr. Berry was elected by his peers to the D.C. Bar Labor and Employment Law Section’s Steering Committee. The Committee works to advance the professional development and competence of its members by offering educational programs and publications in the substantive law fields of labor and employment law, as well as areas of practice and procedure. Since 2014, Mr. Berry has served as co-author of the firm’s legal articles on RestonNow, and ArlingtonNow. Since 2019, Mr. Berry has co-taught the District of Columbia Bar continuing legal education course on security clearance representation for other lawyers seeking to learn how to effectively represent clients in security clearance cases. Mr. Berry presented a class for the Virginia Continuing Legal Education program on the security clearance process in May of 2021 and a class regarding the MSPB and EEOC in November of 2022.

Ms. Watkins’ federal practice focuses on cases before various administrative agencies — including the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) – as well as security clearance cases before the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA), the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency Consolidated Adjudication Services (DCSA CAS), numerous cases before the Intelligence Community and before other federal agencies. In 2022, Ms. Watkins was selected for membership in the Security Clearance Lawyers Association by her peers. Ms. Watkins also advises private sector and municipal employees in the District of Columbia in various types of investigations, grievance procedures, disciplinary actions, whistleblower issues, and equal employment opportunity (EEO) matters. Ms. Watkins also focuses on various administrative matters involving federal law enforcement officers. Ms. Watkins has several years of litigation background and has guided countless clients through depositions and trial proceedings. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Watkins worked as an attorney advisor for the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, the appellate division of the Department of Veterans Affairs, authoring appeals decisions to resolve cases arising from Veterans benefits disputes. During law school, Ms. Watkins worked as a legal intern with the Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Prisons, providing legal support to DOJ attorneys on a variety of cases involving matters such as correctional law and litigation, civil rights disputes, mental health hearings, and FTCA claims. Prior to her legal training, Ms. Watkins obtained her undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University where she double majored in History and Political Science. While attending Wake Forest, Ms. Watkins also participated as a member of the University’s Equestrian Team. Ms. Watkins is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and before federal agencies nationwide.

Alan Bowden is an attorney whose practice centers on family law, divorce, and domestic relations matters handled in both Juvenile and Circuit Courts across Virginia. He represents individuals throughout Northern Virginia, as well as in Prince William County, Spotsylvania County, Stafford County, and Fredericksburg. His work often emphasizes resolving disputes through negotiation and mediation when possible, helping clients reach practical solutions while minimizing conflict. When settlement is not achievable, he brings decades of courtroom experience to contested matters, having tried cases in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia over the course of a 25-year legal career. Mr. Bowden is admitted to practice in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., and is also admitted before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. He is a member of the Virginia Bar Association and remains active in both bar-related and community activities. His academic background includes a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Virginia Tech, a Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law, and an LL.M. in Securities and Financial Regulation from Georgetown University. To learn how Alan Bowden can assist with a family law or domestic relations matter, call 703-386-7941 or complete our online contact form to schedule a consultation and discuss next steps.

Nicole M. Burns has practiced family law in Northern Virginia for over a decade, handling everything from complex custody disputes and domestic violence cases to amicable divorces and post-judgment matters. She offers both litigation and settlement-focused services, using mediation and collaborative law when appropriate to help clients resolve issues with less conflict. Her background in psychology—combined with real-life parenting experience, including raising a child with special needs—gives her a grounded, empathetic approach to family law. Nicole earned her law degree from George Mason University and graduated with honors from the Catholic University of America. She is a member of the Fairfax and Prince William County Bar Associations and the Virginia State Bar. Ready to move forward with confidence? Call Nicole M. Burns today at 703-373-4761 or complete our contact form to discuss how she can help you protect your family and your future.