Lasnetski Gihon Law

Two partners, two bodies of law

Lasnetski Gihon Law handles criminal defense and immigration cases in Florida. Those two areas overlap more than most pairings in law, and this firm covers both under one roof.

The firm began in 2008 as SLG, a small criminal defense office started by Jeremy Lasnetski. John Gihon joined later as a partner, and the firm opened an office in Altamonte Springs, near Orlando. The name changed to reflect the partnership, and the branding shortened to LGL.

The firm states that its two partners handle the cases themselves. That is a structural claim worth noting, since it tells a prospective client who will be reading the file and standing up in court.

Where each partner comes from

Jeremy Lasnetski

Lasnetski has practiced in Jacksonville for over 20 years and reports more than 22 years of trial experience. He worked as a prosecutor at the State Attorney's Office, where he was a division chief and served in the homicide unit.

He has tried more than 70 criminal trials. The subject matter he lists spans first degree murder, white collar crime, drug trafficking, DUI and domestic battery. In my opinion, the homicide unit background is the detail that carries the most weight here, because those units generally handle the most document-heavy and forensically complex files a state office produces.

John Gihon

Gihon is board certified by the Florida Bar in immigration and nationality law. Board certification in Florida is a formal designation with its own requirements, and relatively few attorneys in any given field hold it.

He focuses solely on immigration. Before entering private practice he prosecuted cases in Jacksonville and then worked as an ICE prosecutor in Orlando, where he was a senior attorney. He has trained ICE agents, USCIS officials and other attorneys on immigration law, and he has held director, Secretary and Executive Vice Chair roles with the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Criminal matters the firm takes

The criminal side covers state and federal cases at both felony and misdemeanor level. Named categories include DUI, drug offenses, theft, domestic battery, firearms cases, sex offenses and white collar crime.

Florida criminal cases follow a familiar path. An arrest is followed by first appearance, then a filing decision by the State Attorney's Office, then arraignment. Discovery, depositions and motion practice fill the middle stretch. Most cases resolve before trial, which is why the negotiating posture set in those early months tends to shape the outcome.

Federal cases run on different rails. Charges usually arrive by indictment, pretrial detention is decided under the Bail Reform Act, and sentencing runs through the federal guidelines with a judge who has discretion to vary from them. An attorney working both systems has to keep two sets of procedure and two sets of sentencing math in mind.

Immigration matters the firm takes

The immigration list covers green cards, naturalization, work permits, U visas, VAWA petitions, asylum and deportation defense. That includes matters before the immigration court and appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

How this work generally proceeds

Affirmative filings such as green card petitions and naturalization applications go to USCIS. They involve forms, supporting evidence, biometrics and often an interview at a field office. Timelines depend on the category and the service center.

Removal proceedings work differently. They begin with a Notice to Appear and run through master calendar hearings and then an individual hearing before an immigration judge. Relief applications, from cancellation of removal to asylum, are filed inside that case. An adverse decision can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which reviews the record on paper.

U visas and VAWA self-petitions sit in a separate lane again. Both carry confidentiality protections and both turn heavily on documentary proof, including police reports, certifications and personal declarations. Preparation work on these tends to be slow and evidence-driven.

Why the pairing matters

A criminal conviction can change a non-citizen's immigration status. Certain offenses trigger removability or bar relief outright, and the category a plea falls into can matter more than the sentence attached to it. The Supreme Court's decision in Padilla v. Kentucky made advice about those consequences part of a defense lawyer's duty.

A firm that runs both practices has the criminal analysis and the immigration analysis in the same building. As a reviewer, that strikes me as the clearest practical argument for how Lasnetski Gihon Law is put together. Gihon's ICE background gives him direct familiarity with how the government builds and argues removal cases, and Lasnetski's prosecutorial years cover the other half of the equation.

Reach, access and what the site shows

The firm lists offices in Jacksonville, Altamonte Springs and Orlando, and says it takes cases in counties across central and north Florida. That geography puts it in both the Fourth Judicial Circuit around Jacksonville and the Orlando area courts, with the Orlando immigration court within range.

Consultations on criminal and deportation cases are free. Other immigration consultations carry a set fee, which the firm publishes on its site. Publishing that distinction up front is a small thing, though it saves callers a guessing game.

The firm keeps profiles on Facebook, X and LinkedIn. Its website does not state a formal entity name, and neither attorney biography lists a law school or year of admission. Two details on the site conflict: the contact page gives the Jacksonville suite number as 510, while the home page gives 520.

How the listing reads on evidence

Most of what the firm publishes about itself is checkable. Board certification is a matter of Florida Bar record. Prior employment at the State Attorney's Office and at ICE is verifiable through public sources. Bar association leadership positions are published by the association itself.

Trial counts and years of experience come from the firm's own statement, as they usually do in this industry. No case results, settlement figures or client counts appear on the pages we reviewed, and the firm makes no claims about outcomes.

What a prospective client can take from the site is a clear picture of who does the work and what kinds of cases the two partners have handled before. The firm has practiced under this structure since Gihon joined, and its founding as a criminal defense office dates to 2008.