History of the Shellow Group from a Unique Perspective

The Makings of a Criminal Defense Firm

Shellow & Shellow practices law in an elegant office lined with old law books and scientific texts and I sit behind the slot man’s desk from the old New York Herald Tribune; French doors lead to an exquisite garden. Robin occasionally brings her two Standard Poodles to the office and they sleep on my couch.

Robin Shellow, President of The Shellow Group, designed and constructed my office in her office building. It had been a flax factory and she and her architects lovingly restored it. It has served as the focal point for the neighborhood’s gentrification. It is filled with authentic Stickley furniture, Oriental rugs, and three wood stoves to keep the Wisconsin winter at bay and a beautiful garden that warms the office atmosphere in the summer. The building with its unique furnishings conveys that the people who work in its midst like to come to work and spend the time working for the success of clients.

The Shellow Group includes a brilliant and charming full-time investigator whose analysis of people and documents is the envy of all other law firms. A social worker and AODA counselor, whose participation may include helping reluctant clients disclose something that they thought would hurt their case when in fact helps their case. The Shellow Group also contains an attorney who was the Department Head of a State agency who has argued for the rights of the disabled in the United States Supreme Court. His recent affiliation with The Shellow Group has resulted in The Shellow Group’s Pro Bono representation of the first woman in America to be charged with first degree murder as a result of the ingestion of drugs while pregnant.

The Shellow Group also contains an immigrant Polish lawyer whose Ph.D in English Literature makes her a spirited fit for this uniquely talented group. A nationally recognized consulting psychologist is almost a fixture in the office. He is both board certified as a forensic and clinical psychologist. The Shellow Group knows that being charged with a crime can break the spirit of even the strongest of defendants and its psychologist and social workers know that part of their role is keeping the fear at bay so that the client is in the best position to help The Shellow Group. It is also not unusual to see a former police chief sitting at the table helping The Shellow Group figure out how the existence of documents not turned over in discovery will aid in dismantling the prosecution’s case. Whether it is their selection of a forensic computer consultant or forensic pathologist, The Shellow Group utilizes the best experts to assist in case preparation and presentation.

The Shellow Group is a collegial consortium of professionals who care about and explore why a defendant went astray and develop workable paradigms to prevent recurrences of criminal conduct. Courts know that, whether a Shellow Group Client has crossed the line or almost crossed the line, the Shellow Group sees as part of its mission to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

The Shellow Group deliberately limits its case load. Its open files are a fraction of the number of that of other firms which specialize in the defense of criminal cases. Each case is endlessly analyzed and strategies and defenses are developed for the particular client. Motions are carefully crafted and briefed for the specific case. Form motions and pattern instructions may be necessary for law firms with heavy case loads, but the Shellow Group has the luxury of individuating every defense. The Shellow Group charges higher fees, but it achieves better results. These high fees also support the Group’s extensive commitment to the representation of the poor, the fragile and the oppressed.

Robin began her criminal defense career nearly twenty years ago defending those for whom a defense seems almost impossible and achieved results which are the envy of the criminal bar. The judges before whom Robin appears read Robin’s exquisite and moving motions, briefs, jury instructions and sentencing reports and intuitively recognize that Robin and her group are trying to solve real problems in a real world in which simple solutions are fantasies. Whether her clients are corporate executives or a child who has killed a teacher, juries, prosecutors and judges respond to Robin’s integrity and holistic defense of her clients.

Robin’s talents are recognized by the most able and recognized members of the criminal defense bar. She was a Board Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

To understand Robin’s unique talents, you must read for yourself what she has written about her clients for prosecutors and judges and the newspaper accounts of her trials and successes. I have defended the accused throughout the United States for almost 50 years. If one ignores Robin’s occasional spelling errors, her writing is the best I have ever read or am likely to read. Her writing is obviously influenced by her extensive reading. It probably also is influenced by her studies for a degree from Sarah Lawrence; her seminars at Cambridge for a second B.A. and Masters Degree; it also may reflect a gentle and civilized southern vocabulary and style she acquired in Macon, Georgia, where she attended law school.

Transparency and candor require that the reader know that I am Robin’s devoted father.