CaseSteps provides plain-English educational guides, structured questions, and blank organizers that attorneys can share with clients and families. It helps people prepare for more productive conversations without replacing confidential legal advice.
CaseSteps is an independent educational platform. It does not provide legal advice, evaluate cases, recommend attorneys, create an attorney-client relationship, or replace a law firm's intake, security, conflict-checking, or document-management systems.
Attorneys and legal teams may share CaseSteps to help clients and families:
I'm sharing this independent CaseSteps educational guide to help you organize general questions before we speak. It does not replace confidential legal advice. Do not enter names, case numbers, court dates, addresses, medical information, identification numbers, detailed allegations, or confidential communications.
CaseSteps does not ask for your name, firm, email, or any client or recipient information.
Each kit groups readings and blank organizers that already exist on CaseSteps. Federal and California material is kept strictly separate: federal information does not apply to a California state case, and California coverage is limited to the verified early-stage pilot.
Federal criminal cases only. Not applicable to a state case.
General education on what a federal plea agreement is and what the court addresses at a change-of-plea hearing, plus a blank organizer for building questions before a meeting.
Link shared: /tools/federal/plea-preparation-organizer — a clean public page address with no attorney or recipient identity, tracking identifier, query string, organizer answer, or referral code.
Federal criminal cases only. Not applicable to a state case.
The difference between the presentence investigation and the report, the role of federal probation, why report review matters, and how federal sentencing and the sentencing hearing generally work.
Link shared: /tools/federal/psi-psr-organizer — a clean public page address with no attorney or recipient identity, tracking identifier, query string, organizer answer, or referral code.
Federal criminal cases only. Not applicable to a state case.
What generally happens after federal sentencing, how the different kinds of federal custody time and credits differ, good-conduct time, and First Step Act Time Credits.
Link shared: /tools/federal/custody-transition-organizer — a clean public page address with no attorney or recipient identity, tracking identifier, query string, organizer answer, or referral code.
Federal criminal cases only. Not applicable to a state case.
How Second Chance Act prerelease placement, Residential Reentry Center placement and home confinement differ from one another, and what federal supervised release is.
Link shared: /tools/federal/release-reentry-organizer — a clean public page address with no attorney or recipient identity, tracking identifier, query string, organizer answer, or referral code.
Federal criminal cases only. General education about how the mechanisms differ — no eligibility determinations, no calculations, and no release-date estimates.
The ten questions families ask most often about federal time: why there is no automatic percentage, how 10 days differs from 15 days of First Step Act Time Credits, who may earn them and when earning can begin, what a PATTERN risk score is, how earning differs from application, why Bureau of Prisons dates can differ, whether the Second Chance Act guarantees 12 months, and what to do when a credit record looks wrong.
Link shared: /questions — a clean public page address with no attorney or recipient identity, tracking identifier, query string, organizer answer, or referral code.
Federal criminal cases only. General education about how the mechanisms differ — no eligibility determinations, no calculations, and no release-date estimates.
The second set of federal time-and-credit questions: how the earning exclusion is written, what the presentence report does and does not decide, how a recidivism-risk assessment is questioned, which programs and jobs count, what happens with waiting lists and canceled programs, how an excused absence differs from opting out and from refusing a program, how special housing, medical placement, a writ or a transfer are treated, when earned credits can be lost or restored, and whether earning continues in a Residential Reentry Center or on home confinement.
Link shared: /questions — a clean public page address with no attorney or recipient identity, tracking identifier, query string, organizer answer, or referral code.
Federal criminal cases only. General education about how the mechanisms differ — no calculations, no prior-custody-credit determinations, no predicted transfer or release dates, and no facility predictions.
The third set of federal questions: who calculates a federal sentence, when a federal sentence commences, how prior-custody credit under section 3585(b) works, why detention time can count toward a sentence and still earn no First Step Act credits, how the Bureau of Prisons designates a facility, what weight a judicial recommendation carries, why someone waits in a detention center after sentencing, how federal and state custody and writs interact with commencement and concurrent or consecutive sentences, what a detainer is, and how a sentence computation can be reviewed with staff and counsel.
Link shared: /questions — a clean public page address with no attorney or recipient identity, tracking identifier, query string, organizer answer, or referral code.
Federal criminal cases only. General education about how the mechanisms differ — no eligibility determinations, no credit calculations, no release-date estimates, no placement or RDAP predictions, and no predictions about supervised-release outcomes.
The fourth set of federal questions: how prerelease custody, a Residential Reentry Center, home confinement and supervised release differ; whether the Second Chance Act guarantees 12 months; how the Bureau of Prisons decides the length and timing of Residential Reentry Center placement; who decides home confinement and what a judge may recommend; whether earned First Step Act Time Credits guarantee a placement; how credits can support an early transfer to supervised release; what happens to credits that remain unapplied; how RDAP and its section 3621(e) benefit differ from time credits and good-conduct time; what federal supervised release is and what the probation officer does; how modification, early termination and revocation differ; what the May 28, 2026 Bureau of Prisons camp-utilization announcement does and does not change; and why community placement can still involve electronic monitoring, including whether someone monitored at home by Probation is still in Bureau of Prisons custody.
Link shared: /questions — a clean public page address with no attorney or recipient identity, tracking identifier, query string, organizer answer, or referral code.
California adult misdemeanor and felony cases, early stages only. This pilot does not cover juvenile, traffic or infraction matters, sentencing law, probation, parole, appeals, diversion, immigration, or trial strategy.
General stages of an adult California criminal case and what an arraignment and early pretrial proceedings commonly address, plus a blank early-case organizer.
Link shared: /tools/california/early-case-organizer — a clean public page address with no attorney or recipient identity, tracking identifier, query string, organizer answer, or referral code.
CaseSteps is not a law firm, lawyer-referral service, legal marketplace, or lead seller. There are no attorney profiles or directories, no ratings, no sponsored or paid placement, no referral fees or per-lead charges, no co-branding, and no tracking of attorneys, clients, or shared links. Sharing CaseSteps does not create an attorney-client relationship, does not protect privileged information, and is not claimed to affect whether anyone hires anyone.