Shein, Brandenburg & Schrope

Attorney Marcia G. Shein

Attorney Shein has served as an adjunct instructor of legal and psychology courses for the Criminal Justice Programs for Broward Community College and Nova University in Florida, and Troy State University in Alabama, and Kaplan University in Chicago.

Attorney Shein is a nationally recognized attorney in federal pre-trial, sentencing, appeals and post-conviction relief whose articles, and personal interviews have been published in numerous state and national law journals. She has provided testimony before the United States Sentencing Commission and has spoken before state and national bar conventions, civic groups, and on radio and television. She has published many articles and texts on Federal criminal defense issues.

Attorney Shein is also a life member of NACDL (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) and past president 2013 for the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (GACDL). She is admitted to practice in all Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Georgia, and the United States Supreme Court. Her practice has taken her to Federal Courts throughout the United States representing clients in complicated federal CP, fraud, drug and white collar cases.

Attorney Elizabeth Brandenburg

Attorney Elizabeth Brandenburg has a unique perspective in defending her clients. For over six years, she has worked with a variety of clients from juveniles to adults accused of a variety of crimes from property crimes to violent offenses. Thanks to her extensive preparation and negotiations with district attorneys she has been successful in getting felony charges for both adults and juveniles charges dismissed.

Elizabeth has also successfully appealed cases in both state and federal courts from sentencing and trial issues to forfeitures. She has also been successful in habeas corpus, a unique kind of law where success is sometimes rare.

Due to her exceptional writing advocacy skills, Elizabeth was asked to serve as the Chairperson of the Amicus Committee for the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers that assists lawyers and individuals in cases by submitting briefs to the appellate courts concerning widespread or common problems in criminal cases.

Elizabeth was also invited to serve as an adjunct faculty member at Mercer University Law School, teaching the next generation of lawyers in Mercer’s Advanced Legal Writing Certificate Program.

While still in law school Attorney Brandenburg worked for the Augusta District Attorney’s Office, and the Honorable Judge Hugh Lawson of the Middle District of Georgia. She also volunteered with the Habeas Project, an appeals clinic where she worked on Georgia direct appeals and habeas corpus cases. Among her other activities, she was on a Moot Court team and on the board of Mercer Law Review and the Journal of Southern Legal History. She also received a Certificate in Advanced Legal Writing, Research, and Drafting from Mercer that gave her additional experience and education in the art of legal writing. Her background working for a judge, a prosecutor, and juvenile public defender gives her a unique perspective in approaching criminal defense.

In Attorney Brandenburg’s position at the Juvenile Law Group and Federal Criminal Law Group, she diligently defends her clients in both Juvenile and Adult Courts.

Elizabeth A. Brandenburg graduated magna cum laude from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia with a certificate in legal writing. She was a member of the law review and published articles in the Mercer Law Review: Kansas v. Marsh: A Thumb on the Scale of Death And School Bullies’ They Aren’t Just Students: Examining School Interrogations and the Miranda Warning. In 2008, she received the Walker P. Johnson, Jr. Memorial Award for litigation skills and professionalism. Ms. Brandenburg contributed to articles on PTSD and Child Pornography cases. She is a member of Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Ms. Brandenburg is admitted to practice in all Georgia trial and appellate courts including juvenile court, as well as the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia, and the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal in the Third, Fourth, Sixth, Eleventh and D.C. Circuits.

Attorney Leigh Schrope

Attorney Leigh Schrope has dedicated her career to criminal defense and has worked with a variety of clients, juvenile and adult, in Georgia state courts and federal courts around the country. Thanks to her preparation and persistence, she has been able to negotiate favorable pleas. Further, her exceptional research and writing advocacy skills has led to success at the appellate and habeas level. She has received two Case of the Year Awards from the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for her advocacy in the Georgia Supreme Court.

During law school, Leigh’s interest in criminal law quickly began to crystalize. During law school she had internships in the Appellate Division of the Georgia Indigent Defense Counsel, where she honed her appellate research and writing skills, the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Boston, Massachusetts, where she represented clients from the date of their arrest, including at arraignments and bond reduction hearings, and as a research assistant for a criminal law professor. She also was a founding member of the Emory Criminal Law Society.

Upon graduating from Emory Law School with honors in 2003, Leigh had a short stint in the civil world when she initially agreed to join Duane Morris, LLP as an associate but ended up accepting a position with Wargo & French, LLP when that firm split off. During her time with Wargo & French, Leigh became familiar with the civil procedures in Georgia state courts and federal courts and represented clients in Georgia and around the country.

After two years, Leigh was ready to return to her passion, and accepted the newly created position as the Juvenile Appeals Attorney at the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council (“GPDSC”). In that position, Leigh represented criminal defendants and juvenile defendants in direct appeals, represented GPDSC’s interests as Amicus in direct appeals and petitions for a writ of certiorari, assisted juvenile defenders in representing clients at trial and on appeal, planned appellate and juvenile training curriculum, participated in training sessions as a member of the faculty, participated in long-term strategic planning, assisted in starting a brief bank, and drafted appellate performance standards.

Leigh was promoted to Senior Appellate Supervising Attorney at GPDSC, where she ran the day to day operations of the Appellate Division of GPDSC. In this role, Leigh continued to represent criminal defendant in direct appeals and GPDSC’s interest as Amicus in direct appeals and petitions for a writ of certiorari. Additionally, Leigh reviewed, revised, and edited briefs from public defenders around the State, assisted public defenders in representing their clients at trial and on appeal,  answered questions from prisoners and their families; fielded between 20-50 case related inquiries monthly, acted as an advisor to the director and deputy directors of the agency on appellate issues, planned appellate training curriculum, participated in training sessions as a member of the faculty, planned and supervised the projects and services of the Appellate Division, reviewed cases from around the State to determine whether there is an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, and supervised the staff and interns of the Appellate Division.

Leigh resigned from GPDSC to spend more time with her family. She continued her legal advocacy, however, by performing contract work for the Law Firm of Shein & Brandenburg and other prominent defense attorneys. In 2015, Leigh joined the Law Firm of Shein & Brandenburg, where she continues to represent clients facing criminal prosecution or serving sentences for criminal convictions, including representing clients pre-trial, on direct appeal, in post-conviction proceedings, and when seeking parole.

Leigh recently won a case in the Supreme Court of Georgia (S20A0355. Stinchcomb v. The State), granting a discretionary appeal on behalf of her client. Additionally, Leigh won a grant of an appeal from a federal case on a 2255 Certificate of Appeal with the 11th Circuit (20-11093-A. Joseph Cooper v. USA).