Born in Philadelphia and raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut and majored in Latin American Studies. After attaining fluency in Spanish, I graduated in 1985 and worked as a criminal investigator for the Superior Court in Washington, D.C. My experience with the Superior Court led me to enroll in Dickinson School of Law two years later, where I co-founded the Public Interest Law Fund, which provides debt relief for students and young lawyers working in the public interest. While studying law, I clerked for the Public Defenders’ Offices in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, the Manhattan Office of the New York Legal Aid Society, and the Defender’s Association of Philadelphia. 

After graduation I accepted a position as an Assistant Defender at the Defender Association of Philadelphia where I received training from some of the best Criminal Defense Attorneys in the country. Having tried over 200 criminal cases in Philadelphia, I returned to my hometown of Lancaster, PA, and in 1997 opened the Law Offices of Hobie Crystle, which has grown into the firm of Crystle, Allen & Braught. My practice focuses on defending people accused of crimes and misdemeanors and helping control the damage attendant to such accusations. My firm also represents people with Workers' Compensation cases, as well as Civil Rights, Personal Injury and Social Security Disability claims.