Our Firm
Forest Wilkerson
Criminal Defense Attorney
Forest Wilkerson has been practicing law in the Coachella Valley since 2006. She has work exclusively on criminal cases representing thousands of clients facing punishment in the criminal legal system. She has worked on all kinds of cases, ranging from drug possession and simple assault to homicide and child molest. Her hard work and stellar reputation has earned her recognition as a Top Attorney in Palm Springs Life Magazine every year since 2013. Forest has an unblemished record of dozens of 5-star reviews on Google, avvo, and yelp.
Joshua Mulligan
Criminal Defense Attorney & Certified Criminal Law Specialist
Joshua Mulligan is the most highly-credentialed attorney defending criminal cases in the Coachella Valley. Josh was educated at the top-tier Ivy League Cornell Law School, where he worked on the Journal of Law and Public Policy and his widely -cited student note was published. Josh has worked exclusively in criminal defense since graduating in 2004 and through hard work has obtained hundreds of cases dismissals and dozens of “not guilty” verdicts at jury trial. Josh is recognized as a State Bar Certified Criminal Law Specialist, a distinction earned by only a few hundred lawyers, out of over 10,000 who practice in the field. Josh is also a graduate of Trial Lawyers College, a demanding program involving psychodrama, acting, and storytelling training.
We are experts in criminal defense because it’s all we do.
Why Choose Us To Defend You?
Simple—criminal defense is all we do. We do not spread our work over several different areas like other firms. Focusing on criminal defense alone has enabled us to become experts. We have dedicated all of our training and time to criminal law, and this single-minded passion has led to deep experience that just isn’t possible when attorneys cover multiple areas at once.
“As a criminal defendant, YOU are our priority.”
We will not push you aside while seeking a big civil win or to charge more hourly fees on a family law case. We are passionately dedicated to our only clients—criminal defendants.
We Limit Our Case Load
One of the biggest criticisms of criminal defense attorneys is that they do not spend enough time with their clients. There are private defense attorneys and public defenders who have caseloads of 100 or more, which directly affects their ability to review cases and meet with their clients.
Even the most talented attorney is going to be ineffective if they have too many cases. By limiting our caseload to represent only a number that we feel we can effectively manage, we best serve our clients and will not miss anything in a case.
We Have Never Been Prosecutors
Many people have the unsupported belief that if a person was a prosecutor in the past, they will make a better defense attorney. This is not true.
The job of a prosecutor is much different from that of a defense attorney, and it takes different training and experience to be a defense attorney. This also means that we have never worked against defendants, which is very important. Prosecutors often refer to defendants as “scumbags” and think it’s ok to send people to prison for the most petty of offenses.
With our service, you can rest assured that we treat each client with respect and dignity, and have never faltered from our belief that people are inherently good, even if they do a bad thing. Prosecutors often fail to see the humanity behind the defendant, or the person behind the crime. Prosecutors dedicate their life to sending people to prison. You don’t want an attorney who has treated people as subhuman; you need an attorney who has always been dedicated to the criminal defense cause.
We Have Never Been Cops
While being a police officer means that one has specialized training in certain areas, cops are the same as prosecutors — they dedicated their life to imprisoning people, often for petty offenses, and they have worked to ensure, through any means possible, that a defendant stays in prison.
For the same reasons that you don’t want a prior prosecutor as your attorney, you don’t want a former cop as your attorney. How can you be convinced that they see you any different than the people they happily sent to prison? You can’t. It’s best to just ensure that you have attorneys who believe that a person shouldn’t be judged by their worst act, but by the person they are inside.