I Didn't Plan on Becoming a Defense Attorney. But After Almost Thirty Years, I Can't Imagine Doing Anything Else. 

THE BEGINNING 

I grew up on Long Island, New York. From the age of eight, all I wanted to do was dance. 

I had the great good fortune of studying with a woman who had danced with the original Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in our small town, which was remarkable. I took classes with her, took the train into New York City on weekends to train with professional dancers, and spent my childhood completely certain that ballet was my future. 

Then I got injured my first year of college. 

So I transferred to UC Irvine and became a drama major. Which, looking back, was the best accident of my life. I spent three years reading Shakespeare, performing, learning how to inhabit a character, how to command a room, how to read an audience. I didn't know yet that I was also learning how to be a trial attorney. 

After graduation, a theatrical manager told me that a pretty face is a dime a dozen in LA - if you sing and dance, go to New York. So I went. I waitressed. I taught exercise at 7am. I rode the subway at 6am counting rats while I waited for the train. I went to auditions. I did extra work on All My Children. I was on those subways hours a day, sleeping three hours a night, scraping coins together to pay rent. 

After four years of that, I walked out of ABC Studios, looked up at the marquee, and thought: I have a bachelor of fine arts and I have studied with some of the greatest teachers in the world. This is not what I spent my life working toward. 

I moved back to California and decided to go law school. My grandfather was a lawyer so it was always in the back of my mind that if I couldn’t dance or act, I would be a lawyer. 

I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. 

LAW SCHOOL AND THE LONG WAY AROUND 

Law school was three of the most brutal years of my life. I studied twelve hours a day, seven days a week and I borrowed an enormous amount of money to pay tuition. My years in ballet taught me discipline and dedication. My years struggling in New York City gave me grit and determination. I was more driven than ever to succeed. 

I graduated with honors. 

Then I got a job with an aviation litigation firm in downtown Los Angeles, on the 36th floor of a skyscraper, doing work that was absolutely, completely, soul-crushingly boring. The Talking Heads song — “My god, what have I done?”— was my anthem. After two years of civil litigation (which is an oxymoron!) I quit, to figure out what to do with my life. 

Then, 2 different people — one a public defender, one a DA — told me independently and in completely separate settings: I think you would be a great public defender. 

I went to see a lawyer I knew and mentioned it. He picked up the phone. I had an interview the next day. I got the job. 

My first two years in the Public Defender's Office I did 24 trials in 24 months. I knew nothing about criminal defense when I started. But from the very first case, I knew I had found my purpose. I was in court. I was helping people. I was fighting for people the system was stacked against. For the first time since I'd left ballet, I felt completely at home. 

ALMOST THIRTY YEARS IN FEDERAL COURT 

After two years in the Public Defender's Office I went into private practice and was appointed to the federal panel — which is how federal courts appoint private attorneys to cases when defendants cannot afford representation. That appointment opened a world I never would have accessed otherwise. 

I worked on MS-13 cases. Mexican Mafia cases. Death penalty cases. I was backup counsel on an Aryan Brotherhood case, representing a man on death row in the high-security eighth floor of the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA. I walked into that room in heels. He looked at me and said: you could kill someone with those shoes. I made a note to myself — no more heels to jail — and kept going. 

Those cases gave me a foundation in federal practice that most private attorneys never build. I learned how federal investigations work — the FBI, the IRS, Homeland Security, the DEA, the ATF — how they gather evidence, build cases, and decide who to charge. I learned how federal prosecutors think. And I learned, case by case and judge by judge, how federal judges think. What they read carefully. What they respond to. What they do not forgive. 

After years on the federal panel, I transitioned to exclusively private practice. For the past twelve to fifteen years I have represented private clients in federal cases of every kind — fraud, drug conspiracies, bookmaking, money laundering, tax evasion, assault on federal officers, and more. 

Some of those cases have made headlines. I represented Mathew Bowyer, the bookmaker at the center of the Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal, from the day of the FBI/IRS/Homeland Security raid through sentencing. I recently won a not guilty verdict in a federal assault case arising from the 2025 Los Angeles immigration enforcement protests, representing a man who was pepper sprayed and punched by an agent before throwing a single punch in response. 

Most of my cases never make the news. But every one of them gets the same preparation, the same attention, and the same fight. 

WHY DEFENSE 

People ask me all the time: how do you defend guilty people? 

Here's the honest answer. A large majority of my clients are guilty. It is not my job to judge them — it is my job to walk them through a terrifying system, make sure the government proves what it claims to the standard the Constitution requires, and fight for the most reasonable outcome under all of the circumstances. 

Crime doesn't happen in a vacuum. In almost thirty years I have met people who grew up in unimaginable circumstances — dirt floors, no running water, parents who were addicts or who were gone working every hour of every day, kids who joined gangs because they wanted to belong somewhere. I have met people who got greedy and made terrible decisions they cannot undo. I have met people who had no idea they were committing a crime. And I have met people who were charged with crimes they genuinely did not commit. 

Every single one of them deserves a defense. Every single one of them deserves to be heard. And every single one of them deserves an attorney who actually shows up — who reads everything, prepares everything, and fights like hell when it matters. 

I also believe — and I say this without any hesitation after almost thirty years — that defense attorneys are the ones who wear the white hats. We are the ones who hold law enforcement accountable. We are the ones who stand up in court and say: you have not proven this. You have not followed the rules. You do not get to violate the Constitution and walk away. 

If I can cross-examine an FBI agent who has lied on three affidavits — in front of a jury of twelve people who are half asleep at four in the afternoon — and wake them all up and do it right. But one of the best feelings in the world is getting the right results for my clients and knowing I did everything I possibly could for them. 

That is why I do this. 

CREDENTIALS 

EDUCATION:

• Southwestern University School of Law, J.D.
• University of California, Irvine, B.A., Drama 

RECOGNITION:

• Super Lawyer five years in a row
• Southern California Avvo Rating: 10.0
• Superb Top Attorney — multiple years 

MEDIA:

Diane Bass has appeared as a legal commentator on ABC, CBS News, NBC News, CNN, Fox, KTLA and CourtTV. She has been quoted in: the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, ESPN, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, AP and the Orange County Register. 

COMMUNITY:

• Attorney-Coach
• Corona Del Mar High School Mock Trial Team Judge
• Mock Trial Competitions, UC Irvine Judge
• Orange County Bar Association — Teenage Survival Skills Presenter at OC Bar Association on Lawyer Well Being
• Everything State Criminal Defense Lawyers Need to Know about Federal Criminal Defense
• Several Bar Associations and Western State Law School on Dealing with the Media in a high profile case and discussion the Mathew Bowyer/Shohei Ohtani Betting Scandal

MEMBER:

• National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys
• California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
• Orange County Bar Association
• Orange County Women Lawyers Association Member
• Harbor Bar Association; Board Member Innocence OC
• Former President South Orange County Bar Association
• Former Chair of the Orange County Bar Association Well Being Committee

BAR ADMISSIONS:

• State Bar of California
• United States District Court
• Central District of California
• Northern District of California
• Eastern District of California
• Southern District of California

OTHER DISTRICTS WHERE PRACTICED:

• District of New Jersey
• District of Delaware
• District of New Hampshire
• Eastern District of North Carolina
• District of Arizona

THE PERSONAL NOTE 

I am a solo practitioner. I have been one for almost 3 decades. 

When you call my office, you talk to me. When your case is prepared, I prepare it. When you walk into federal court, I am standing next to you. There is no team of associates handling your file while I work on something else. There is no one you've never met showing up for your hearing. There is me. 

I think that matters.

I also think the work I did before law school matters more than it might seem. Almost thirty years of standing in front of juries draws on every hour I spent in a ballet studio, every scene I performed as an actor, every audition I went on in New York City. Federal court is — among other things — a performance. Presence matters. Timing matters. Knowing when to be quiet and when to press matters. I learned those things long before I learned the Federal Rules of Evidence. 

If you are facing federal charges, call me. The consultation is confidential. And whatever happens, you will know exactly where you stand. 

📞 949-494-7011 ✉️diane@dbasslaw.com 🌐 dbasslaw.com 

If you or a loved one are in trouble and need help, please contact Diane C. Bass for your consultation.