The People’s Counsel is a criminal defense firm founded by Charles L. Barberio IV, who started his own practice in 2008, the year he graduated from law school at the University of Missouri and joined the Missouri Bar. The firm works from two offices: 4542 W Pine Blvd in the Central West End, St. Louis (63108) — the office its site presents first — and 222 S Central Ave, Suite 1004, in Clayton (63105).
Its team page names five attorneys. Barberio’s published record includes dozens of not-guilty verdicts and multiple acquittals on the most serious charges, including murder, and his site lists honors including Criminal Chair Elect of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, Top 40 Under 40, Super Lawyers Rising Star and National Trial Lawyers Top 100. Eric Selig began in the St. Louis City Public Defender’s Office, where he tried more than 25 felony jury trials, and has tried more than 75 jury trials since 2006; he joined the firm in 2020 and co-anchors its criminal litigation team, and he is a two-time co-recipient of the MACDL Atticus Finch Award for Trial Excellence. Associates Alex Shenderov and Sarah McKinney round out the published litigation team, and attorney Nikki Moody is also listed.
The firm’s published criminal practice covers drug crimes (possession through distribution); violent crimes (assault, armed criminal action, manslaughter, and first- and second-degree murder); DWI/DUI, driver’s license reinstatement, and Missouri hardship licenses; burglary, stealing, and expungement; and federal crimes and misdemeanors through severe felonies.
The firm publishes example outcomes including not-guilty verdicts in a domestic assault case and in a murder/armed criminal action case, and a drug-case dismissal. It offers free consultations and invites people charged with a crime to call anytime.