Robert Edward Dugdale

Dugdale practices white collar defense and represents clients in government investigations as a partner at Kendall Brill & Kelly LLP. He joined the firm in 2016 after having served 19 years at the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District. In 2010 he was appointed chief of the criminal division there. In 2000, he received the Attorney General’s Award for disrupting drug cartels’ money laundering operations by prosecuting forfeiture actions involving more than $31 million.

“As a generalist at the U.S. attorney’s office, I worked on major frauds, environmental crimes and gained a broad perspective that serves me well now. I gained a lot of insight into what arguments move prosecutors, insights that help my clients today,” he said.

Dugdale added that with the change in administrations from President Trump to President-elect Biden he anticipates a shift in emphasis on the crimes prioritized for prosecution. “With Trump, it was almost exclusively immigration. I expect now a greater focus on ignored issues such as public corruption and other backburner matters such as environmental crimes and those in which consumers are harmed by criminal wrongdoing. Under President Obama, we were directed to preserve the rights of the disenfranchised and economically disadvantaged and to vigilantly enforce consumer rights. Biden also seems to be a champion of the little guy.”

He said that these days his goal for clients “is to win criminal cases by persuading the government not to pursue an indictment — I’m proudest of the matters you’ve never heard of because that means I was successful.”

In other matters he said he’s reminded of his former prosecutorial role, as in his representation of suspended attorney Edgar Sargsyan, alleged to have engaged in a million-dollar bank fraud and in efforts to bribe multiple federal officers, including a now-former FBI agent. U.S. v. Sargsyan, 2:20-cr-00190 (C.D. Cal., filed April 27, 2020).

Sargsyan’s guilty plea and cooperation with the government in its further prosecution of an ICE agent and a crime boss may lead to a lighter sentence; Dugdale said his job is to broker those conversations. “He had a lot of criminal exposure,” he said of his client. “We’ve done what we can to mitigate by helping Mr. Sargsyan work with the government to bring a bigger case.”

In the bigger scheme of things, Dugdale said his effort is about shifting the government’s view of his clients. “I open the prosecutors’ eyes to what individuals go through, and convince courts that a defendant shouldn’t be judged solely on what was the worst moment of their lives. I get to know the defendant, learn what makes them tick so I can explain their actions—not to excuse, but to get appropriate mercy.”

— John Roemer