LAW OFFICE OF
SARA AZARI
Criminal Trial Attorney. Advocate at the Intersection of Law & Reputation.
CRIMINAL DEFENSE l CRISIS & MEDIA STRATEGY l DEFAMATION & REPUTATIONAL HARM
ABOUT
SARA
Sara Azari is a bi-coastal trial attorney with more than two decades of experience defending clients in the most consequential criminal and civil matters of their lives. With offices in Los Angeles and New York, she represents individuals and companies in high-stakes federal and state cases from coast to coast—cases where liberty, livelihood, and reputation are at stake.
A recognized leader in the defense bar, Sara is licensed in California, New York, and D.C., and
has been named a California Super Lawyer consecutively since 2008, an honor reserved for the top five percent of attorneys in the state. Her practice is selective by design: she takes on matters that demand nuanced strategy, aggressive advocacy, and the judgment to navigate parallel criminal, civil, regulatory, and reputational exposure. When a matter breaks publicly, Sara directs the public response—so the story told outside the courtroom never undercuts the case being built inside it.
Beyond the courtroom, Sara is one of the nation's most visible legal voices. She serves as the resident legal analyst for NewsNation has long been a trusted contributor to CNN, ABC, NBC, and other major networks.
AREAS
OF FOCUS
White Collar & Federal
Criminal Defense
Sara has built a national reputation defending sophisticated white-collar matters, including cryptocurrency-related fraud; IEEPA violations; sanctions and embargo violations enforced by OFAC; tax, wire, bank, mail, and securities fraud; healthcare fraud; embezzlement; and RICO prosecutions. She represents clients from the earliest stages of government inquiry through indictment, trial, and appeal in federal district and circuit courts across the country.
High-Profile Sexual Misconduct
& #MeToo Defense
Sara is frequently retained by prominent individuals—executives, entertainers, athletes, and public figures—confronting allegations of sexual misconduct in a post-
#MeToo landscape. These matters move quickly and rarely stay contained to a single forum: criminal investigations, civil lawsuits, workplace and Title IX proceedings, internal inquiries, and media exposure often unfold at the same time. Sara leads the defense across every front—protecting her client's rights, reputation, and record with the same rigor she brings to trial.
Defamation & Reputational Harm
When a legal problem becomes a public one, the initial days can shape the outcome as much as the final verdict. Sara advises athletes, elected officials and political figures, executives, entertainers, and other high-profile individuals the moment a crisis breaks—whether it starts with an investigation, an arrest, a lawsuit, a leak, or a headline.
She builds the public response alongside the legal strategy: what to say, what not to say, when to say it, and who should say it. That includes statement drafting, interview and press-conference preparation, management of media inquiries, and coordination with publicists, agents, team and league officials, and campaign and communications staff. Every public word is vetted for its legal consequences—because in a high-profile case, a statement can become evidence. Where the law allows,
the work is structured to preserve the attorney-client privilege.
Complex Criminal &
Trial Matters
In addition to her signature areas of focus, Sara defends clients facing serious felony allegations, including violent offenses and other high-stakes state and federal prosecutions.
Media Strategy &
Crisis Communications
When a legal problem becomes a public one, the initial days can shape the outcome as much as the final verdict. Sara advises athletes, elected officials and political figures, executives, entertainers, and other high-profile individuals the moment a crisis breaks—whether it starts with an investigation, an arrest, a lawsuit, a leak, or a headline.
She builds the public response alongside the legal strategy: what to say, what not to say, when to say it, and who should say it. That includes statement drafting, interview and press-conference preparation, management of media inquiries, and coordination with publicists, agents, team and league officials, and campaign and communications staff. Every public word is vetted for its legal consequences—because in a high-profile case, a statement can become evidence. Where the law allows, the work is structured to preserve the attorney-client privilege.
MEDIA & COMMENTARY
Sara Azari's on-camera work spans more than a decade of national and cable news and prestige programming, including CNN, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, Investigation Discovery, and CUOMO on NewsNation, where she currently serves as resident legal analyst.
She is known for her unfiltered and clear-eyed legal analysis — informed by decades of experience and what she sees inside courtrooms every day. That same experience works for her clients. Sara has sat on both sides of the camera: she knows how newsrooms decide what becomes a story, how long it lives, and what moves it.
CONTACT
Law Office of Sara Azari
Please submit your inquiry here.
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