Spotlight On: Nina Marino

Nina Marino, the co-founder of Kaplan Marino PC and a leader in white-collar and complex criminal defense, obtained a high-profile acquittal earlier this summer following a ten-week jury trial in the District of Hawaii. Ms. Marino’s client, Dennis Mitsunaga, is a prominent Honolulu businessman who was charged in a sweeping public corruption case, United States v. Kaneshiro, et al., during which the government alleged that Mr. Mitsunaga and others engaged in a pay-to-play retaliatory prosecution scheme with officials from the Honolulu prosecutor’s office.  In an interview with the American Bar Association’s JustPod Podcast, Ms. Marino described the trial as “exhilarating” and “probably [the] best trial experience in [her] career.” The jury returned Not Guilty verdicts on all counts after less than two days of deliberation. This result represented a rare victory in the federal system where, according to the Pew Research Center, only about 0.4% of defendants in criminal cases went to trial and obtained an acquittal during fiscal year 2022.

Ms. Marino has dedicated her entire career to the representation of criminal defendants. As a student at the University of La Verne College of Law, she attended classes at night while working at a criminal defense firm during the day. The day after being sworn in as a lawyer, she was in court defending a client. Since then, she has achieved international recognition for her work in white-collar and other complex defense litigation. She is one of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association’s (WWCDA) trailblazers who has contributed to the association’s success. She has been a chapter leader for the Los Angeles Chapter for many years. Today, she serves as a co-chair of both the London White Collar Crime Institute and the Women in White Collar Subcommittee of the ABA Criminal Justice Section. She is also a member of the planning committee for the National Institute on White Collar Crime. Ms. Marino has been recognized as one of The Best Lawyers in America since 2019 and, earlier this year, was named an MVP of the Year by Law360. There is nothing sweeter than a Not Guilty—Bravo Nina!