New Jersey Expungement Lawyers

If you are looking for New Jersey expungement lawyers contact the Law Office of Katherine O’Brien today.  We understand that having a criminal conviction on your record can mean that you are losing out on various opportunities in life.  Whether that means you are denied acceptance into a school, a job opportunity, a financial aide package, a New Jersey firearms identification card, or are prohibited from coaching your children in sports, you should know that New Jersey allows you the opportunity to have your criminal record erased through the expungement process.

Having an arrest record can stand in the way of your dreams and can negatively impact your life.  If you were convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony (or “indictable”) offense, you criminal history record is available to anyone to see.  Moreover, although most people do not realize it, dismissed or dropped charges will, in fact, be revealed in during background check – unless you have the arrest record expunged.  Anyone who sees this information, even if the charges were dropped, will likely view your innocence with skepticism.

Moreover, criminal background checks easily performed today on the internet, and there are thousands of criminal background check companies on the internet, making your criminal history available to employers, acquaintances, landlords, and licensing agencies, and so on, thereby preventing you from being able to advance in your career, coach your children in sports, obtain a firearm, or take advantage of financial opportunities.

The solution is to expunge your record.  The New Jersey expungement statutes govern issues regarding eligibility for expungement.  Determining if and when you are eligible, however, is not always an easy task.  Moreover, the expungement process itself is technically demanding.  If the requirements are not followed each step of the way, whether due to incomplete information being provided in the petition and/or due to improper service of the petition or other errors, the court could deny your expungement.

Check Out Our Google Reviews!

We Update Online, Private Databases — For FREE!

As part of all of our expungement services, we include – absolutely free of charge – the invaluable service of updating your records with private, online background check companies. If you have had your criminal record expunged by the court, you have won half of the battle. While you have done everything possible to clean up your government record, old information is most likely still being held and distributed by private background check providers. At Katherine O’Brien Law, we take proactive measures on behalf of our clients to notify them of our clients’ expungements. Other expungement lawyers either do not offer this service at all or charge anywhere from $200 – $400 additional for this service.  At Katherine O’Brien Law, we give our clients confidence in knowing that, no matter where they go, their record has been properly expunged.

Not only do we make sure that your expunged records are removed by private, online databases, but we also make sure that the state/governmental agencies have properly expunged your records in accordance with the expungement order. Surprisingly, the expungement lawyers at Katherine O’Brien Law has found a very high rate of error with regard to the proper updating of the state databases – despite the relevant agencies being properly served with the expungement order.  We estimate an error rate of approximately 25% to 30%, in fact.  Thus, an expungement lawyer’s work is not done until they have verified — post-expungement — that the state databases have been properly updated to remove your expunged offenses.

In addition, despite our diligent and proper handling of your expungement, due to the nature of information exchange via the Internet, it is possible that your expunged record might be improperly revealed by an internet background check company. Although this is rare due to our dedication to ensuring that your expunged records are properly removed from all governmental and private sources, if this does happen to you, we offer a free lifetime record removal service to all of our expungement clients. This means that we will immediately reach out to the relevant background check company on your behalf and demand that they not only remove your expunged records from their system but also correct any reports that were issued on your behalf. Other law firms provide you with a form letter and instructions on how to do this yourself.

Why Choose Us?

√ Flat-rate fees are all-inclusive – absolutely no surprises! Guaranteed Expungement or Your Money Back!

√ We will obtain non-certified court dispositions for your records – this is important since once they are expunged, you will no longer be able to obtain them.

√ We will notify private, online databases of your expungement – this invaluable service (which other lawyers charge upwards of $200-$400 additional for) is included in our service for free.

√ We ensure, post-expungement, that the New Jersey government agencies have actually removed your records from their databases (surprisingly, we have found an error rate of approximately 30% here!)

√ Experienced New Jersey expungement lawyers will personally handle your expungement from start to finish.

√ Local New Jersey law firm – not a “national” law firm located somewhere outside of New Jersey.

√ For the rare occasion when a record we have expunged is improperly revealed by an online background check company, we offer a free lifetime record removal service where we will demand that the background check company remove your expunged records from their databases and update any reports that have been issued on your behalf. Other law firms provide you with a “form” letter to do this yourself.

√ Serving all of New Jersey.

√ Having experienced New Jersey expungement lawyers focused almost exclusively on New Jersey expungement law handle your case means that you get the peace of mind that you are receiving top-notch expungement services at the absolute lowest prices.

√ Responsive communication guaranteed – when you contact us we will always respond back to you immediately.

If you are shopping around for New Jersey expungement lawyers deciding which law firm to you would like to represent you can be confusing.  For tips, read our posts on How to Find the Best Expungement Lawyer and How to Find an Affordable Expungement Lawyer.

Our Guaranteed Expungement Service* includes all of the following:

When we handle your expungement, our service includes not only obtaining the actual court order expunging/sealing your records but we will also:

1. Guaranteed Expungement* or Your Money Back! We are so confident in our services that we will guarantee expungement or we will refund our legal fee in full.
2. Obtain non-certified dispositions for your records.  Before expunging/sealing your record, you should obtain your case dispositions for your files since, once the records are ordered expunged/sealed, you will likely not be able to obtain them. Should you ever be required to disclose or need access to your expunged/sealed records for any reason, it will be tough, if not impossible, to obtain them once your cases have been expunged/sealed. As part of our representation, we will obtain non-certified case dispositions on your behalf. Moreover, should you require certified case dispositions (usually required for immigration proceedings), we can also obtain those on your behalf for an additional fee.
3. Ensure that your expunged/sealed records are removed from private databases. As part of our representation of you, we will not only obtain an order expunging/sealing your records and ensure that your records are removed from the applicable state agencies’ databases, but we will go the extra mile by providing – at no additional cost – the invaluable service of making sure that the various online, private background check databases (such as Checkr, Truthfinder, Sterling, etc.) have removed your expunged records from their databases. Other law firms either do not offer this service at all or charge upwards of $200 to $400 additional for this service. At Katherine O’Brien Law, when we say that we will handle your expungement/sealing from start to finish for a flat fee price, we mean it, and we go above and beyond for our clients to ensure their expunged records are removed for good from all possible sources.
4. Ensure that your expunged records are removed from government databases. After the court orders your expungement and the expungement order is served on the applicable government agencies, such as the police department that arrested you, the applicable court, the probation office, the county prosecutor, etc., the expungement lawyers at Katherine O’Brien Law will go above and beyond by confirming that your records were actually removed from the applicable databases. You would not believe how frequently we have found the state agencies to have failed to properly update their databases – despite proper service of the expungement order by our office.  Shockingly, we have found that approximately one-third of the time, government agencies have failed to remove expunged records from these databases properly.  We cannot stress how important it is to verify, post-expungement, that the state agencies, such as the municipal courts, have removed your records per the expungement order.
5. Offer free lifetime record removal services. Finally,  despite our diligent and proper handling of your case and our dedication to ensuring that your records have been appropriately removed from the state and private databases, with the advent of the internet and information sharing, it is possible that an Internet background check company might improperly reveal your expunged record. Should this happen to you, we offer a free lifetime record removal service to our expungement/sealing clients. We will immediately reach out to the relevant background check company on your behalf and demand that they remove your expunged records from their system and correct any reports issued on your behalf. Other law firms provide you with a form letter and instructions on how to do this yourself.

*The use of the word “guaranteed” in attorney advertisements specifically refers to a refund policy and does not imply a guarantee of any particular outcome in your legal case. Legal cases are inherently unpredictable, and the result of any legal matter cannot be assured. Katherine O’Brien Law guarantees that you will receive a full refund of our legal fee if you do not obtain the desired outcome. This guarantee applies solely to the refund and not to the success or outcome of your case. Please also be advised that if expungement was denied for your failure to disclose your entire criminal record, the guarantee does not apply. For more information and to discuss your specific legal situation, please consult with one of our experienced attorneys. 

Experienced New Jersey Expungement Lawyers

Experienced New Jersey expungement lawyers at Katherine O’Brien Law regularly handle both simple and complex expungements in New Jersey, giving each case our utmost priority for faster processing time and ease of mind.  Schedule your free consultation now.