Bard Legal - Helping Heroes Right Their Stories
Defense attorneys often treat sentencing mitigation as Plan B. I help you make it Plan A - from Day One.
My flagship service, designed to empower your client to build a powerful mitigation case from day one. The Sentencing MapSM provides you with documented evidence of your client’s accountability and change, often without the need for a full report.
The Sentencing Map℠ gives attorneys a proactive framework to build mitigation from day one
For felony & serious misdemeanor cases that require a full report, I provide one that builds upon the foundation of the Sentencing MapSM to create a complete, evidence-based narrative. I also write pre-sentence investigation reports for first-offense DWI charges.
When it’s time to advocate in court, my reports deliver strategic clarity and evidence-based impact.
Your client participates in a confidential screening using the EPIC, ACEs, CARS-MH, and SASSI-4 tools. This screening session takes approximately two hours and provides a complete picture of your client’s needs and strengths, with no advance preparation required.
At the end of the session, your client receives “The Map and The Way” workbook. The workbook is their personal guide through their case, containing all the templates and instructions needed to immediately begin documenting their mitigation efforts in a structured way.
Your client follows the workbook, collecting character letters and other documents, while tracking progress. The completed workbook provides you with a portfolio of compelling, tangible evidence, often making a full report unnecessary.
This process equips your client to show—not just say—who they are and how they’ve grown.
With 40 years of experience in Missouri courtrooms, I’ve seen firsthand how sentencing decisions shape lives — and how strategic advocacy can change them. Furthermore, my work is informed by 16 years of experience as a defense representative in treatment courts and a deep understanding of evidence-based practices.
I am certified in the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI), the SASSI, and the Alcohol Use Disorders Inventory Test (AUDIT). I built my proprietary EPIC Screener based on thousands of hours of client-facing work and my experience with treatment courts, ensuring every screening is both methodologically sound and strategically focused on achieving a better outcome.
40 Years of Criminal Law Experience in Missouri Courts.
16+ Years Serving on Southwest Missouri Treatment Courts.
16+ Years Writing Sentencing Reports for other attorneys.
LS/CMI, SASSI, AUDIT, and other evidence-based tools.
Ready to put Plan A into Action? Email or call today to discuss how my proactive Sentencing MapSM can strengthen your defense and help you secure a better outcome for your client.
FIRST, the information on this website is for general information purposes only. Similarly, any information provided here is not intended as legal advice for any individual case or situation. Also, no case is exactly the same, and case results will vary based on the individual circumstances of a case. Furthermore, the information provided on my site is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship. In fact, let me be very clear that receiving or viewing any information on my website does not create an attorney-client relationship between us.
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THIRD, neither the Supreme Court of Missouri nor the Missouri Bar reviews or approves certifying organizations or specialist designations.
FOURTH, the choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.
