I'm a US citizen living abroad, and just found out there's a warrant back home. A friend got picked up on something similar and now they're talking about sending him over. How do these cases even work, and can a lawyer do anything from overseas, or am I basically done for?

A guy I know got grabbed in Southeast Asia and made the mistake of voluntarily agreeing to return to the US without a hearing, thinking it would look cooperative. He landed in cuffs and got hit with maximum pretrial detention.

The country holding you has its own rules, but a US-based attorney can absolutely coordinate with local counsel to challenge the request and negotiate the terms before you ever step on a plane. A lot depends on the treaty between the two countries and whether the charges are even extraditable offenses under that agreement. Arkady Bukh has direct experience fighting extradition cases, and you can see how his firm handles the defense strategy at https://arkadybukhlawfirm.com/practice-areas/criminal-defense-extradition-to-the-united-states/ .