HAYTHAM FARAJ
Trial Lawyer- Criminal Defense and Personal Injury

HAYTHAM FARAJ is a nationally recognized criminal defense and personal injury trial lawyer. He represents clients in criminal and civil matters in Federal courts, military courts and state courts. Mr. Faraj has represented clients in numerous complex cases that gained national and international notoriety. His remarkable record of successes reflects his commitment to his clients. Mr. Haytham Faraj has received accolades and recognition from numerous organizations. He is fluent in Arabic.

LEGAL CAREER

Mr. Faraj began his legal career in the United States Marine Corps. Since his retirement from the Marine Corps, he represents clients in complex criminal and civil cases. He has represented clients at trials who are accused of committing White Collar crimes, crimes of violence, Drug and trafficking charges, and military offenses charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He has represented clients in civil claims involving fraud, contract disputes, police misconduct and personal injury. His commitment to providing his clients with aggressive, outstanding representation is reflected in the numerous testimonials from past and current clients.

Since leaving the Marine Corps Mr. Faraj has achieved some extraordinary trial victories. He attributes his legal success to his military training, aggressiveness and commitment to be better prepared, more skilled and more ready to engage in the legal combat that is trial practice. Mr. Faraj believes that trial is combat. It is not a sport with winners and losers. Too much is at stake. When representing a human being, the lawyer must be ready for a battle for survival against the powerful government interest represented by the prosecutor or the insurance company interests represented by the insurance defense lawyer. Anything less is a betrayal of the human client who is depending on the lawyer to preserve life, liberty or livelihood.

Notable Trial Successes

United States v. Trent Thomas (2007 – Acquittal of 1st degree murder and war crimes charges)

United States v. Matthew McCabe (2009 – Navy Seal acquitted of war crimes charges)

United States v. Issam Hamama (2009 – Acquittal of federal conspiracy and espionage charges)

United States v. Wacker (2010 – Acquittal of multiple rape charges)

United States v. Frank Wuterich (2012 – 24 charges of 1st degree murder and war crimes. Charges dropped after 3 weeks of trial)

3D Global Solutions v. MVM, Inc. (2012 – won civil lawsuit worth over 2 million dollars)

People v. Chammas (2014 – Official misconduct charges dropped on 1st day of trial)

People v. Gallat (2014 – Acquittal of assault charges)

United States v. Nathan Truitt (2014 – Acquittal of theft and drug charges)

United States v. Brandon Keck (2014 – Acquittal of sex assault charges)

United States v. Reece Tso (2014 – Acquittal on 34 of 36 sex assault charges)

United States v. Jean Romain (2014 – 1st degree murder and conspiracy charges dropped after preliminary hearing)

United States v. Rodriguez (2015 – Acquittal of sex assault charges)

United States v. Nicholas Woodson (2015 – Acquittal of drug possession and distribution charges)

United States v. Ayman Wazne (2015 – Acquittal of federal charges)

United States v. William Aossey Jr. (2015 Acquittal of federal money laundering charges. Conviction of conspiracy and fraud; obtained a sentence 70% less than the guideline range) APPEALED.

United States v. Midamar Corporation (2015 – Substantial departure from the guidelines with a fine of $20k. Guideline was $500k to $1.5m)

United Staes v. Col James Laughrey (2016 – Guilty plea – beat the pretrial agreement. Client sentence was 25% of what the government requested)

Danielle Laws v. Andrew Chen (2016 – $21,657,000 verdict for plaintiff in Traumatic Brain Injury auto collision case)

MILITARY CAREER

Haytham Faraj began his legal career as a military defense counsel and later as the senior defense counsel at Camp Pendleton, California, from 2005 to 2008. When he left the United states Marine Corps, he had culminated a career that spanned 22 years. During that period, he had served in a variety of assignments and locations as an enlisted infantryman, an NCO and later as an infantry officer. His military career included assignments as a mortar squad leader, a mortar section leader, embassy Marine Security Guard, Mortar Section Leader, Infantry Platoon Commander, Mortar Platoon Commander, Company Commander and Operations Officer. Mr. Faraj also served in a very unique assignment as a Foreign Area Officer for the Middle East and North Africa. During his Marine Corps career he deployed numerous times to the Middle East,the Far East and Africa. He is the recipient of numerous medals and awards including the Combat Action Ribbon. His proudest military achievement is receipt of the Wheeler Award for infantry excellence upon completion of the Infantry Officer Course, thought to be the most challenging military course in the world.

EDUCATION

Mr. Haytham Faraj is a magna cum laude graduate of the Military College of South Carolina, The Citadel, and received his Juris Doctorate degree cum laude from the American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C.

LICENSURE

STATE COURTS

Illinois
Michigan
District of Columbia
California

U.S. DISTRICT COURTS

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. APPELLATE COURTS

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit
Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces

HOBBIES AND VOLUNTEER WORK

In his free time Mr. Faraj enjoys participating in endurance athletic events. He has completed numerous Ironman triathlons, marathons and multiple one hundred plus miles cycling events including Race Across the West. He is active in Ride 2 Recovery, a cycling-centered program that assists veterans in recovering from combat wounds.

MEMBERSHIPS

Illinois State Bar Association
Chicago Bar Association
American Association of Justice
Consumar Attorneys Association of Los Angeles

SPEAKING, PUBLISHING AND TEACHING

Mr. Faraj has published serveral legal articles in the Warrior magazine, a professional publication of the Trial Lawyers College. He is graduate of the Trial Lawyers College and a member of the faculty.

Mr. Faraj has co-authored a book about the Haditha incident and the trial that followed. Thebook, ” No Time for Truth,” which will be published in the Spring of 2014, by the Naval Institute Press and is available at Amazon.

Mr. Faraj has had several television appearances to discuss legal matters. He has also been featured on NPR, Russia TV Network, Fox News and KTLA.

Mr. Faraj is a fluent Arabic speaker.