“If things look hopeless, you may be facing in the wrong direction”

Crisis Management Advocates was founded by Mike Berlon, a former attorney, who had been in private practice for over 20 years. Mike worked with many criminal defendants in cases and was very familiar with how the process worked. He also did quite a bit of pro bono work for inmates that couldn’t afford an attorney after they had been incarcerated.

Mike found out the hard way about how the system really operates when he found himself facing criminal charges for wire fraud based on transactions from his law firm. He plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentence to more than five years in prison.

While he was incarcerated, he was the law librarian at the prison. It was eye-opening. Mike saw first-hand how the system provides almost no help to anyone and how it showed even less compassion. There were no meaningful resources available to help the inmates understand their options. It was shameful. Despite this, Mike was able to help many inmates get time off their sentences, resolve issues inside the prison and even obtain clemency for some of those he worked with.

When Mike returned home at the end of his sentence he realized that there was so much that could be done that he created Crisis Management Advocates: to help others understand that they do have options that can significantly affect their situation and which can help them get them home as soon as possible.

All of the people that we work with have through the process, spent time in federal prison and have been able to come home and rebuild their lives. That experience is invaluable because it allows us to empathize with anyone who is going through it.