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Who Mr. Scherer Is
Keith Scherer is a criminal trial attorney with extensive jury trial experience. Mr. Scherer’s aggressive representation of his clients has resulted in numerous dismissed charges, acquittals, and grants of clemency. For his own cases and as a consultant, Mr. Scherer has appeared in the national media many times. The national media often seeks him out as an expert on criminal matters.
Mr. Scherer works in the federal and state courts, in addition to military jurisdictions. In federal court he represents people accused of white collar crime, government contract fraud, computer crime, conspiracy, wire and mail fraud, extortion and bribery, drug offenses, and all other criminal charges. In addition to representing people who have already been arrested or charged, he represents people who have been asked to cooperate in federal investigations, including grand jury proceedings.
In state and military court, Mr. Scherer extensive experience representing people accused of larceny, theft, sexual assault, drug offenses, computer crime, and violent crimes including homicide. In addition to serious felony cases, he represents Illinois residents in DUI hearings, traffic court, and juvenile delinquency matters.
The scope of Mr. Scherer’s criminal casework has helped him develop numerous contacts in law enforcement, including the FBI, ATF, ICE, Postal Inspector, and military investigative divisions. He has worked with experts in a wide variety of disciplines, including forensic psychology, computer forensics, pathology, toxicology, and many more.
Mr. Scherer has spent his entire legal career in the courtroom, beginning with a two-year clerkship in a prosecutor’s office during law school. Prior to his military legal career, he practiced trial law in Chicago, where he now practices in federal and state court, in addition to military courts world-wide. He has extensive felony jury trial experience. He concentrates on criminal law, but also has a substantial civil rights practice getting justice for people who have suffered because of police misconduct and false eyewitness identifications. A lifelong Chicagoan, Mr. Scherer is a 1998 graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he received a CALI award for the highest grade in Advanced Criminal Law.
In addition to his regular practice, Mr. Scherer is a panel attorney with the Office of the Federal Defender, representing indigent defendants in federal criminal proceedings. Federal Defender caseloads include federal misdemeanors, felonies, parole and probation violations, grand jury representations, appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Seventh Circuit, and petitions for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court.
With his help, defendants facing the possibility of life in confinement have avoided federal conviction altogether. He has gotten numerous acquittals, charges dropped, charged reduced, and helped defendants avoid being charged altogether. In cases where the client has pled guilty, Mr. Scherer has vigorously fought their sentencing cases and helped them receive extremely favorable sentences. As a defense counsel in the Air Force he was regard as “the master of the sentencing case” for his skills in helping clients receive drastically lighter-than-expected sentences.
During his years in the Air Force JAG Corps, Mr. Scherer’s performance reports contained numerous remarks about his outstanding work:
- “a leader among fellow defense counsel”
- “first choice to handle the region’s toughest cases and clients”
- “a vigorous defender of airmen’s rights”
- “a dynamite, hard-charging JAG”
- “a consummate professional”
- “a consistent A+ in every area”
- “one of the defense community’s finest”
In his life outside of practicing law, Mr. Scherer has been a widely published baseball writer. His work has appeared in the Baseball Prospectus annual and he was a contributing author to Juice: The Real Story of Baseball’s Drug Problems and Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Blunders. He has contributed articles to Baseball Prospectus Online, The Hardball Times, espn.com, and other internet publications. He has combined his legal and baseball knowledge by serving as a legal consultant to the baseball industry on several drug-related cases, including the prosecution of BALCO, Congress’s investigation into steroid use in baseball, and the investigation of Barry Bonds.
From 1989 to 1992, Mr. Scherer served as an enlisted member of the Air Force Intelligence Command as a Russian Linguist stationed in England.
Mr. Scherer lives in Chicago with his wife and four children.
Education
- J.D., Chicago-Kent College of Law, 1998
- B.A., University of Illinois at Chicago, 1995
Bar Admissions
- Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
- Air Force Court of Appeals
- U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
- Federal Trial Bar
- Illinois State Courts
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