David Feige is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

lawyer, legal commentator, and author. He is the author of the memoir, ''Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice'', and co-creator of the

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

legal drama A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...

'' Raising the Bar'', both of which center on the life of the public defender. He is also the co-founder (along with his wife

Robin Steinberg Robin Steinberg is an American lawyer and social justice advocate who is currently the chief executive officer of the Bail Project, an organization modeled after The Bronx Freedom Fund, which she founded with her husband David Feige in 2007. Steinb ...

) and board chair of

The Bronx Freedom Fund The Bronx Freedom Fund is a nonprofit bail fund located in the South Bronx. The first charitable bail organization in New York State, it provides bail assistance to indigent defendants facing pretrial detention for low-level and misdemeanor charg ...

, a charitable bail organization in New York State. In 2016 he won the Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award for "Untouchable" a documentary feature he wrote, produced and directed. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Background

Feige was raised in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

. His mother was a social worker and his father was an economics professor. Feige pursued his undergraduate studies at

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. After law school, Feige declined an offer to work as an associate at

Dewey Ballantine Dewey Ballantine LLP was a corporate law firm headquartered in New York City. In 2007, Dewey Ballantine merged with LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae to form Dewey & LeBoeuf. Dewey Ballantine underwent numerous name changes throughout its history a ...

and accepted an offer to work as a public defender in New York City. He is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Career

Feige began his legal career as a staff attorney at the Criminal Defense Division of the

Legal Aid Society The Legal Aid Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit legal aid provider based in New York City. Founded in 1876, it is the oldest and largest provider of legal aid in the United States. Its attorneys provide representation on criminal and civil mat ...

, and held positions at the Civilian Complaint Review Board of New York City and the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, before becoming, in 1997, one of the founding members of The Bronx Defenders. In 1999 Feige was promoted to Trial Chief. In March 2001, he filed the first motion for a double-blind sequential line up in ''People v. Leo Franco'', spawning a series of legal challenges to eyewitness identification procedures around the country. Feige is the author of the 2006 book ''Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice'', which recounts his experiences as a public defender in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Feige is co-creator with Steven Bochco (who had read ''Indefensible'') of the TV series, '' Raising the Bar'', which debuted on

September 1, 2008 to the highest ratings for a pilot episode in the history of ad-supported cable television. It was Feige's first attempt at screenwriting. The action takes place in the courthouses of

and the show deals with issues similar to those of ''Indefensible'', though with fictional characters. The show was renewed by the TNT Cable network. He has written or produced over 100 hours of episodic television having also worked as a Consulting Producer and writer on the television shows '' The Firm''. and In Contempt, a Co-Executive Producer on a number of shows, including

Drop Dead Diva ''Drop Dead Diva'' is an American legal comedy-drama/fantasy television series that aired on Lifetime from July 12, 2009, to June 22, 2014. The series was created by Josh Berman and produced by Sony Pictures Television. It stars Brooke Elliott ...

and the CBS legal drama

Doubt Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, unable to be certain of any of them. Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and disbelief. It may involve uncertainty ...

, and as an Executive Producer on the ABC series

For Life (TV series) ''For Life'' is an American legal drama television series created by Hank Steinberg that premiered on ABC on February 11, 2020. The series is inspired by the true story of Isaac Wright Jr., who was imprisoned for a crime that he did not commit. ...

. Feige has appeared on Court TV,

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

and

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

to comment on legal issues. He has also written about the law for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' and ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', and magazines like '' Fortune'', '' Slate'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', and ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

''. He was on the faculty of the National Criminal Defense College at

Walter F. George School of Law Mercer University School of Law (historically Walter F. George School of Law) is the professional law school of Mercer University. Founded in 1873, it is one of the oldest law schools in the United States; the first law school accredited by the ...

in Macon,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, and is currently on leave as Professor of Law and Director of Advocacy Programs at

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the ...

School of Law in

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

References

External links

*
Seton Hall Faculty page
*http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/opinion/06feige.html?scp=1&sq=David+Feige&st=nyt *http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/07/16/innocence_by_the_numbers/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Feige, David American lawyers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Mercer University faculty Seton Hall University School of Law faculty University of Chicago alumni University of Wisconsin Law School alumni The Bronx Defenders