Linda Moreno

Practice Profile

Linda Moreno is an internationally renowned US defence attorney who specialises in national security and terrorism cases. Few American lawyers have been involved in more high-profile and complex cases. Her clients have ranged from the actor Wesley Snipes to Guantanamo detainee Mohamedou Salahi.

Ms Moreno is the first International Associate tenant of 5KBW. Her decision to move her UK anchorage from another highly respected London chambers is a reflection of how far the profile of 5KBW has risen and the respect with which it is now held as a leader among UK crime sets.

Ms Moreno has led the defence in over 100 jury trials, a number of them landmark cases.

She lectures on civil liberties in the US and the UK and was asked by the Nobel Peace Committee to address politicians, lawyers and the media about human rights following the 9/11 attacks. Ms Moreno has been retained by foreign embassies to represent their nationals. She is an expert consultant on jury selection and is known as an authority on anti-Muslim bias in American jury trials.

She is sought after by the media as a legal expert in national security issues and has been interviewed by the BBC, New York Times, NBC, CBS, Al Jazeera, The Los Angeles Times and Washington Post, among many others.

Notable Cases

Ms Moreno recently successfully defended Noor Salman, the widow of Omar Mateen, who shot dead 49 people in the Pulse, a gay nightclub, in Orlando, Florida. In a watershed moment for American justice in the war on terror, a jury acquitted her client of all charges.

In a 6-month trial, described by President Bush as a seminal test of the new Patriot Act after 9/11, the jury refused to return a single guilty verdict in the case of Dr. Sami Al Arian. The verdicts were covered in news bulletins throughout the country.

She co-represented actor Wesley Snipes in a complex tax fraud trial which resulted in his acquittal of all felonies.

She represented the defence in a high profile trial in which her client was accused of being the head of a secret Taliban cell in Sacramento, California. All charges were dismissed.

Ms Moreno was one of the members of the defence team which won the release of Guantanamo detainee Mohamedou Salahi in 2016 after he had been held for over 15 years. The case has featured in the blockbuster Hollywood film “The Mauritanian”.

Practice Jurisdictions

Ms Moreno has practised in criminal defence in both state and federal courts for over three decades. She is a member of the State Bars of California and Florida and is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar. She is Co-Chairperson of the National Security Committee for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and has current Secret Security clearance.

PRESENTATIONS

OXFORD, MANSFIELD COLLEGE: REPRESENTING THE MUSLIM IN AMERICA 2017          
SWEDISH BAR ASSOCIATION, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN-KEYNOTE SPEECH ON SECRECY IN THE AMERICAN COURTROOM: 2015
EUROPEAN BAR, DUBLIN: THE CRUCIBLE OF THE TERRORIST TRIAL: 2014
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW CONFERENCE: STERNBERG REED SOLICITORS & 9 BEDFORD ROW, GRAY’S INN,  LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: 2013
TERRORISM AND CROSS BORDER CRIME, STERNBERG REED SOLICITORS & 187 FLEET STREET, THE LAW SOCIETY, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: 2013
GUANTANAMO BAY & DIFFICULTIES FACED BY DEFENSE LAWYERS IN NATIONAL SECURITY CASES,  DOUGHTY STREET CHAMBERS, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: 2013
BERLIN BIENALLE,  NEW WORLD SUMMIT, BERLIN GERMANY: 2012
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: RELIGION AND THE AMERICAN-MUSLIM COMMUNITY POST 9/11 (2011)
NACDL: REPRESENTING THE CLIENT IN TERRORISM PROSECUTIONS (2008)
FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS: TERRORISM
PROSECUTION IN FEDERAL COURT: LESSONS LEARNED IN JURY SELECTION (2008)
YALE COLLEGE OF LAW: CIVIL LIBERTIES IN NATIONAL SECURITY CASES (2009)
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW:  JURY SELECTION IN TERRORISM CASES
NOBEL PEACE COMMITTEE, OSLO, NORWAY: UNITED STATES VS. AL-ARIAN
LECTURES: TERRORISM, CIVIL RIGHTS AND JURY ISSUES (2005-2011)
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA: CIVIL RIGHTS IN TERRORISM
PROSECUTIONS; MEDIA AND TERROR: IMPACT ON JURY SELECTION (2004)
STETSON COLLEGE OF LAW: TERRORISM AND THE LAW (2003)

LIST OF NOTABLE CASES

 1. UNITED STATES vs. SAMI AMIN AL-ARIAN
 2. UNITED STATES vs. GHASSAN ELASHI, HOLY LAND FOUNDATION
 3. UNITED STATES vs. ADHAM HASSOUN, JOSE PADILLA
 4. UNITED STATES vs. AHMED MOHAMED
 5. UNITED STATES vs. MUTHANNA AL HANOOTI
 6. UNITED STATES vs. IARA, MARK  SILJANDER
 7. UNITED STATES vs. DR. AAFIA SIDDIQUI
 8. UNITED STATES vs. SHAKER AL MASRI
 9. PEOPLE OF STATE OF CALIFORNIA vs. KHIALUDDIN NIAZI
 10. UNITED STATES vs. MOHAMED MOHAMUD
 11. UNITED STATES vs. SABIR HASANOFF
 12. UNITED STATES vs. NEVINE ALY ELSHIEKH
 13. PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA vs. MOHAMED ABDELGANY
     (IRVINE 11)
 14. UNITED STATES vs. CRAIG BAXAM
 15. MOHAMEDOU SALAHI vs. BARACK OBAMA
 16. UNITED STATES vs. ADEL ABDEL BARY
 17. UNITED STATES vs. WESLEY SNIPES
18. UNITED STATES vs. NOOR SALMAN
19. UNITED STATES vs. DAVID DAOUD WRIGHT