Paulette M. Pagán

Paulette M. Pagán is a career criminal defense attorney. She has extensive experience representing clients in all criminal matters ranging from violent offenses to white collar matters.

Philosophy & Approach

Paulette’s persistence and wide-ranging knowledge of criminal law serve as the foundation for reaching the best outcome possible for her clients. She prides herself on effectively communicating with her clients and understands the personal stresses that come along with facing criminal charges.

Paulette has tried numerous jury trials in cases where her clients were facing charges such as murder, robbery, unlawful use of firearms, domestic assault, rape, sex abuse of a minor, stealing motor vehicles, and more. In one trial, Paulette represented a client accused of first-degree rape, first-degree burglary, and sodomy charges. He was facing 15 years to life of incarceration and lifetime registration as a sex offender. After Paulette’s zealous and passionate representation, the jury found her client not guilty of all charges.

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Philosophy & Approach

Experience & Background

Paulette’s previously served the indigent community of St Louis County, Missouri, as a Public Defender for nearly four years. There, she handled over one hundred and fifty felony criminal cases at a time. In her last year with the Public Defender’s Office, she obtained the most dismissed felony cases within the year. As a leading Public Defender, Paulette was asked to guest lecture at the University of Missouri St. Louis on the topic of Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity for an undergrad criminal law course. She also served as a guest trial advocacy Judge for both local undergraduate and law schools.

While in law school, Paulette interned at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in both the homicide department and the trial district court docket. There, she tried jury trials as a student prosecutor as lead counsel. Before working with the District Attorney’s Office, she clerked for Suffolk County district court and superior court judges where she drafted opinions on cutting-edge criminal cases.

In January of 2021, Paulette achieved an all-count case dismissal for a 19-year-old client facing charges of murder in the first degree, assault in the first degree, and two counts of armed criminal action. The charges could have resulted in lifetime incarceration without the possibility of parole. Paulette successfully persuaded the Court into granting her Motion to Dismiss for the prosecution’s failure to properly present evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.

Paulette received her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School. She was the first member of her family to attend law school. Paulette served as the executive editor of the Journal Health and Biomedical Law, where she published her student note: Reliance on Indiana Pharmacy Board’s Synthetic Drug Statute Creates Constitutionally Void Criminal Statute – Tiplick v. State of Indiana on Administrative & Constitutional Law. In her note, Paulette analyzed the Indiana Court of Appeal’s decision on Indiana’s criminal synthetic drug law and the Court got it wrong. She earned her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Central Florida.

Paulette is of Puerto Rican descent and works with clients in both Spanish and English.