JOSHI LAW - Key Persons
Mr. Doss has practiced criminal defense for thirty-one years since his graduation from Tulane University Law School. During those thirty years his enduring focus has been dedicated to defending persons facing prosecution and defending individuals facing the death penalty. Mr. Doss has practiced law with the Office of the Federal Defender since 2011 and leads the capital unit. During the last thirty-one years, Mr. Doss has defended thousands of clients charged with crimes ranging from a simple traffic ticket to death penalty cases before the United States Supreme Court. He has argued and won cases in the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Doss is licensed to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States District Courts for the Middle, Southern, and Northern District of Florida and by the Florida Bar to practice in all Florida state courts. Mr. Doss' dedicated service to indigent clients and criminal law have earned him the Florida Bar President's 2011 Pro Bono Service Award for the Third Judicial Circuit of Florida and the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer's President's Award in 2008 and 2011. This service has been further recognized by Mr. Doss chairing and organizing the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer's Annual death penalty seminar from 2011-2015 and speaking throughout the country at over a dozen conferences and seminars on criminal law and death penalty topics. He has represented a federal death row inmate in FOIA litigation and sued the Department of Justice, FBI, DEA, and the ATF. Mr. Dodd is always on the cutting edge litigation for capital post conviction.
Mr. Doss brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Joshi Law. He can handle every type of criminal case there is in both Federal and State Court. He also has extensive experience in criminal appeals and post-conviction cases.
Education
Juris Doctor, Tulane University Law School
Deborah Barra had been a lawyer for close to 20 years. The first seventeen years as a prosecutor in Orange and Osceola County, and the past three years as the Chief Counsel for the Sheriff of Osceola County. As a prosecutor, she became the Chief Assistant and supervised all the 165 prosecutors in Orange and Osceola County. She was also the Chief of the Sex Crimes Division, Chief of the Grand Jury, and on the Death Penalty Board. She has tried over 150 jury trials.
As Chief Assistant State Attorney, Ms Barra reviewed all excessive use of force cases involving officers who used deadly force. As a result, Ms. Barra performed a 6-month review into the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Ms. Barra's review made international news and was noted in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Associated Press as the most comprehensive review of what took place during the Pulse shooting. She has been also featured in "True Crime" on VH1, 60 Minutes, and countless other Media Outlets.
Ms. Barra got her Bachelor's from Flagler University and her law degree (JD) from University of Florida.
Deborah Barra is an incredible trial lawyer and litigator. She brings such a wealth of knowledge and experience to Joshi Law.
For more than a decade, Ms. Horton has dedicated her legal career to helping clients who have been arrested or are the targets of government investigations. A Florida native, Ms Horton as born and raised in Orlando. She earned her bachelor's degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Florida State University, her law degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, and her Masters of Law in Securities and Financial Regulation from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.
After law school, Ms. Horton returned home to Orlando to work as a public defender for the 9th judicial circuit for 5 years. While there, she helped her clients fight all manner of criminal charges, including drug offenses, criminal traffic cases, domestic battery and stalking charges, R.I.C.O. cases, robbery, firearm offenses, sexual offense allegations, violations of probation, juvenile charges, and more.
After her tenure at the Public Defender's Office, Ms. Horton worked for a very large and prestigious international law firm in their Washington, D.C. office. The firm has offices in over 20 different countries, and throughout the US, and over 1,500 lawyers. She represented clients in complex litigation as well as white collar criminal offenses and government investigations, including anti-money laundering laws, and federal mail and wire fraud charges. Katie was also recognized for her Pro Bono work, and authored an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in support of a Florida man facing the death penalty.
In 2023, Ms. Horton joined the prestigious law firm of Joshi Law. The vast amount of experience she has as a former assistant public defender and working at a very large international law firm, greatly benefits her clients here.
Michelle Yard is a criminal defense attorney who is Board Certified by the Florida Bar as a specialist and expert in Criminal Trial law. She has seventeen years' experience defending criminal cases in Central Florida. She is a member of the Bar in the State of Florida, United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court of the United States.
From 2015 to 2023, Michelle worked at the Federal Defender's Office for the Middle District of Florida in the Orlando Division. At the Federal Defender's Office, she represented individuals in federal jury trial cases on offenses including complex fraud, sexual, controlled substance, and firearm offenses. Michelle also worked as a Research and Writing Specialist Attorney in the Federal Defender's Appellate Division defending individuals in federal appeals and post-conviction habeas cases. She has been granted oral arguments in front of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, following which she has obtained important reversals for her clients.
Job Titles:
- Criminal Defense & Personal Injury Attorney - Founding Partner
Rajan is a high profile attorney who has been featured on CNN, Dr. Phil, Fox, The Today Show, Headline News and countless national and local news stations for cases he has handled. He is a reoccurring guest on Behind the Law to discuss criminal law issues and cases. He has successfully represented politicians, CEO's, numerous doctors, lawyers and some very prominent individuals.
Central Florida Criminal Defense Lawyer Rajan Joshi received his Bachelors degree from the University of Central Florida in 1996, and earned his law degree with Honors from the University of Florida College of Law in 2000. While in law school, Rajan Joshi demonstrated academic excellence, earning the highly coveted Book Award in Criminal Procedure (highest grade). Mr. Joshi was also selected and employed by the Dean of Student Affairs to tutor first-year contract students and conducted his own class to prepare the students for their final exam. Mr. Joshi also worked as a legal intern at the Seminole County State Attorney's Office and at the Alachua County State Attorney's Office. The Florida Supreme Court certified him as a legal intern prior to completing law school, which allowed him the opportunity to argue six jury trials prior to graduation.
Rajan Joshi scored among the Top Five Highest Scores in the Bar Exam for the entire State of Florida. Based on this performance as well as his stellar academic achievements, the Chief Judge of the Fifth District Court of Appeals selected him to be the Valedictorian speaker at the October 2000 induction ceremony for newly sworn lawyers in Orlando. I'm ranked as a Top Attorney based on my superb rating with AVVO.
Defense attorney Rajan Joshi started his legal career as an Assistant State Attorney in Jacksonville, Florida. In his four years working as a state prosecutor, he further developed his trial abilities both in criminal prosecutions and in post-conviction motions. Within his first year, he was promoted to the felony division, and then based as his aggressive, ethical and superb performance as a prosecutor he was promoted to the Repeat Offender Court a year later, where he prosecuted habitual felony offenders and Violent Career Criminals for every serious crimes for his remaining two years as a prosecutor. Rajan Joshi received the 2003 Jury Trial Award for trying more case than any prosecutor in the Fourth Judicial Circuit, which includes Duval, Clay and Nassau Counties.
In 2004, after leaving the State Attorney's Office, Mr. Joshi joined an AV rated (top ranking) law firm in Jacksonville and dedicated his practice to criminal defense for the next two years of his legal career. During his two years as a criminal defense attorney in Jacksonville, Mr. Joshi primarily handled all types of criminal cases from misdemeanors to all kinds of felonies, including Capital Felonies.
In 2006, he returned to central Florida where he grew up and his family has lived since Mr. Joshi was three years old. Shortly after his return, Mr. Joshi joined the prestigious NeJame Law Firm. His legal talents and skills were quickly realized, and within his first year he became a Partner with the firm. In 2014, the National Trial Lawyers Association recognized Mr. Joshi as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers.
Rajan Joshi has also been successful in overturning prior convictions through post-conviction relief motions in cases where the conviction is leading the a non-citizen to being deported. In 2007, Mr. Joshi was successful in having a trial judge declare a Florida Statute that his client was prosecuted for was Unconstitutional because Mr. Joshi successfully argued that the State Statute violated several provisions of the United States Constitution. The State appealed the trial courts decision, and the trial court's ruling was upheld by the Fifth District Court of Appeals which led to the Statute being found Unconstitutional throughout the State of Florida. In 2007, Rajan Joshi had a jury find his client not guilty of Attempted First Degree Murder in less than a half an hour of deliberation despite the fact that the victim testified that Mr. Joshi's client stabbed him at least seven times. In both 2007 and 2009, Mr. Joshi was successful in convincing the prosecutors to drop Murder charges in separate cases after Mr. Joshi had conducted discovery and successfully exploited the weaknesses in those cases. In 2009, Mr. Joshi had a jury find his client not guilty of two counts of Sexual Battery in which the jury deliberated for less than ten minutes. In 2011, Mr. Joshi was successful in representing a doctor who was accused of Solicitation to Commit Murder on another doctor along with several other charges, and had two of the charges reduced to misdemeanors where Mr. Joshi's client only received probation and had all the Felony charges dropped.
In 2012, Mr. Joshi got a Sexual Battery charge dropped when he successfully convinced the prosecutor through DNA evidence that his client could not have been responsible. Mr. Joshi had represented a client who was charged with Attempted Murder, Home Invasion Robbery and several other felony charges when he and his co-defendants broke into another person's house, attacked a house guest with a taser and then Mr. Joshi's client allegedly shot the owner of the house in the chest. Mr. Joshi's client faced a minimum-mandatory prison sentence of twenty-five years day for day and up to Life in prison. Despite being arrested within minutes of the shooting, Mr. Joshi was successful in getting almost all the physical evidence suppressed (thrown out of court) by successfully arguing to the Judge that the police unlawfully stopped and searched his client. Although the co-defendants still agreed to cooperate with the State against Mr. Joshi's client in exchange for them receiving reduced prison sentences, after filing multiple motions and after intense litigation, Mr. Joshi was successful in getting the majority of the charges dropped and having his client only sentenced to probation. In 2015, Mr. Joshi was successful in having a Circuit Court Judge grant his client a new trial for the charge of Attempted First Degree Murder and Armed Robbery where the alleged victim was shot, by successfully litigating during an intense post-conviction hearing and convincing the Judge that the attorney who previously represented this client and tried the case in 2008 was ineffective at trial. These are just a few of Mr. Joshi's successes.
Mr. Joshi's clients have include individuals from various backgrounds and he has represented numerous law enforcement officers, doctors and family members of politicians. Mr. Joshi has handled some extremely high profile cases that have gotten both local and national media coverage, including on the Today Show and Nancy Grace. Mr. Joshi also has written several legal articles for the Orlando Sentinel and the Orlando Style Magazine.
Mr. Joshi strongly believes that anyone charged by the State or the Federal Government needs an aggressive defense and does everything he can to ensure that his clients are protected with the Rights the Constitution has provided to every one in this Country.