
David Feige
Writing
Biography
David Feige is an American 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 legal drama Raising the Bar, both of which centre on the life of the public defender. He is also the co-founder (along with his wife Robin Steinberg) and board chair of The Bronx Freedom Fund, a charitable bail organisation 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.
Feige was raised in Madison, Wisconsin. His mother was a social worker, and his father was an economics professor. Feige pursued his undergraduate studies at the University of Chicago. After law school, Feige declined an offer to work as an associate at Dewey Ballantine and accepted an offer to work as a public defender in New York City. He is Jewish.
Feige began his legal career as a staff attorney at the Criminal Defence Division of the Legal Aid Society and held positions at the Civilian Complaint Review Board of New York City and the Neighbourhood 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 lineup in People v. Leo Franco, spawning a series of legal challenges to eyewitness identif…