About Sheryl Shane — Fairfax Criminal Defense Attorney

Why I Practice Criminal Defense

When someone calls a criminal defense lawyer, it is rarely a good day. It’s the day after an arrest, the morning a summons arrived, the week a detective started leaving voicemails. What that person needs is not a firm — it’s a lawyer. One person who knows the whole case, answers the phone, and stands next to them in the courtroom.

That’s the practice I’ve built. I don’t hand cases to associates, because there aren’t any. I don’t split responsibility, because a criminal case can’t afford divided attention. The person you meet at the consultation is the person who reads every page of discovery, negotiates with the prosecutor, argues the motions, and tries the case if it goes to trial. After three decades of doing this work, I remain convinced that’s how criminal defense should be done.

Background and Experience

I have practiced law since 1994, when I was first licensed in Ohio. In 2000, I was admitted to the Virginia State Bar and moved my practice to Northern Virginia, where I have defended clients ever since — in Fairfax, Arlington, Prince William, Loudoun, and the surrounding jurisdictions.

Along the way, my work has extended beyond defense counsel’s chair. In Ohio, I served as an arbitration judge, deciding disputes between parties — experience that taught me how decision-makers actually weigh evidence and argument, knowledge I use every time I prepare a case for a judge or jury. In Virginia, I have served as a court-appointed Guardian ad Litem, representing the interests of children in court proceedings — some of the most sensitive work the justice system does, and experience that informs how I handle cases where families, children, and criminal allegations intersect.

I am a member of the Fairfax Bar Association and the Arlington County Bar Association. My Virginia State Bar license has been active and in good standing since 2000.

What I Handle

My practice is criminal defense in Northern Virginia — all of it. That includes domestic violence and protective orders, sex crime allegations and investigations, larceny and theft, fraud and white collar charges, DUI and driving offenses, violent crime charges, firearms and weapons charges, drug charges, and charges involving the administration of justice such as obstruction and resisting arrest.

Whatever the charge, the approach is the same: understand exactly what the Commonwealth must prove, examine how the evidence was actually gathered, and hold the prosecution to its burden at every step.

How I Work With Clients

Every consultation is free and confidential. Before you hire me, you’ll know what you’re facing, what the realistic paths through it look like, and what I would do first.

You work with me — only me. I return my own calls. I prepare my own cases. When your case is heard, I’m the one standing beside you.

Honesty over comfort. I will tell you what the evidence actually shows and what outcomes are realistically available, even when that’s hard to hear. Good decisions in a criminal case require accurate information, and you’ll always get it straight.

Local knowledge matters. My office sits on Chain Bridge Road in Fairfax, minutes from the Fairfax County Courthouse where I appear regularly. After more than twenty-five years practicing in Northern Virginia’s courts, I know the judges, the prosecutors, and how each courthouse actually runs — knowledge that shapes strategy in ways no textbook can.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Sheryl Shane – Virginia Criminal Attorney

• Office Address: 4015 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax,

  VA 22030

• Phone: (703) 582-8119

• Serving clients throughout Fairfax County,
  Arlington County, Loudoun County,
  Prince William County, Alexandria,
  and Northern Virginia.