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Most DWI defense practices in New York City are built around one lawyer. Aidala, Bertuna & Kamins is built around a bench: 29 attorneys, four retired judges on the roster — including the former administrative judge of the city’s criminal courts — and a named DWI practice lead whom the firm holds out as one of the city’s most respected DUI attorneys. It is a different model of drunk-driving defense: the full-service trial boutique, with appellate firepower in the building.
At a Glance
| Firm | Aidala, Bertuna & Kamins, P.C. |
| Managing Partner | Arthur L. Aidala; DUI/DWI practice led by partner Marianne Bertuna |
| Manhattan Office | 546 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10036 (Midtown); additional offices in Brooklyn, Southampton, and Cranford, NJ |
| Focus | Full-service trial and appellate boutique; criminal defense including a dedicated DUI/DWI practice, plus civil litigation, appeals, attorney disciplinary matters, personal injury, and real estate |
| Bench Strength | Retired judges on the roster: Hon. Barry Kamins, Hon. John M. Leventhal, Hon. David L. Lewis, and Hon. Michael C. Farkas |
| Fee Structure | Consultation required; no published fee schedule located |
Career History
Arthur Aidala grew the firm from a solo practice into a 29-attorney boutique, and has more than twenty-five years of experience in criminal law representing hundreds of privately retained clients in federal and state courts around the country. The firm’s appellate profile is national: Aidala successfully argued Harvey Weinstein’s criminal conviction appeal before the New York Court of Appeals, and the firm was retained for Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal; other reported clients include Steve Bannon, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Alan Dershowitz. Barry Kamins, name partner and retired justice, is among the state’s recognized authorities on search-and-seizure law. Marianne Bertuna, the firm’s DUI/DWI lead, was recognized in 2014 by The New York Times Magazine as one of the top women attorneys in the state, per the firm. Aidala is also a familiar broadcast presence, hosting his own radio show and appearing regularly as a legal analyst.
Practice Concentration
The DUI/DWI practice is a named, partner-led line within the criminal defense group, handling the full New York case structure: the criminal charge, the parallel DMV administrative hearing on license suspension, chemical-test refusal charges, field sobriety test challenges, ignition interlock issues, and sealing of prior DWI matters, along with other serious traffic crimes. Bertuna’s advertised strengths run to challenging illegal stops and searches and attacking breath-test results — the evidentiary core of most DWI defenses. Around that practice sits the rest of the firm: state and federal criminal defense across the spectrum, civil litigation, appeals, attorney disciplinary representation, and more.
Track Record
The firm’s most independently verifiable outcomes are appellate and high-profile — the Weinstein appeal argument before the Court of Appeals chief among them — rather than a published ledger of individual DWI dispositions, which the firm does not maintain publicly. Its criminal-defense materials state that the first objective in every case is outright dismissal. We note plainly that the firm’s willingness to take notorious, publicly reviled clients is the ordinary function of criminal defense counsel and is reported here as fact, not endorsement or criticism. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case.
Client Voice
Unlike the solo and boutique DWI practices in this category, this firm’s public standing rests primarily on its case record, peer reputation, and media profile rather than on aggregated consumer reviews — and this research did not locate a substantial consolidated client-review base to report. We disclose that thinness rather than substitute marketing copy for it. Prospective clients weighing the firm should ask directly for references relevant to DWI matters specifically, since the firm’s most public engagements are in a different tier of criminal work.
Beyond the Courtroom
The firm’s civic footprint runs through the profession itself: its attorneys assist law students facing Character and Fitness Committee issues in bar admission, and its retired-judge roster represents decades of aggregate public service on the New York bench. Aidala’s radio show and recurring legal commentary make him one of the city’s most publicly visible defense lawyers.
Recognition
Multiple firm attorneys, including Aidala and Bertuna, hold Super Lawyers selections listing DUI/DWI among their practice areas — peer-influenced, research-driven listings by a commercial publication, categorized here as peer-informed recognition rather than certification. The 2014 New York Times Magazine recognition of Bertuna is reported by the firm and attributed as the firm’s claim. The judicial careers of Kamins, Leventhal, Lewis, and Farkas are matters of public record and constitute the firm’s weightiest credential. A disclosure we apply to every New York profile: New York State does not operate a board certification program for legal specialties comparable to the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, so no New York attorney profile on this site will describe its subject as a state-certified specialist, and this profile attributes no certification to any attorney named here.
New York Legal Backdrop
New York’s impaired-driving offenses are tiered under Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192: Driving While Ability Impaired by alcohol (§ 1192(1)) is a traffic infraction typically charged between .05 and .07 BAC; per se DWI (§ 1192(2)) begins at .08; Aggravated DWI (§ 1192(2-a)(a)) begins at .18. Leandra’s Law makes DWI with a child aged 15 or younger in the vehicle (§ 1192(2-a)(b)) a class E felony on a first offense, and VTL § 1198 mandates ignition interlock devices for misdemeanor and felony DWI convictions. A second DWI within ten years is a felony under § 1193, and a chemical-test refusal triggers a separate DMV hearing under § 1194 that can revoke a license for at least a year regardless of the criminal outcome. Where a DWI case goes wrong at trial, appellate review is the remaining path — and appellate capability, this firm’s signature strength, is rare among DWI-focused practices. None of this is legal advice; consult a licensed New York attorney about your situation.
Awesome Attorneys Assessment
The case for this firm is depth of bench in the most literal sense: a partner-led DWI practice backed by 29 lawyers, four retired judges, and proven appellate capacity at the state’s highest court. For a defendant whose DWI case carries career-ending stakes, complex suppression issues, or realistic appellate exposure, that infrastructure is genuinely differentiating.
The honest trade-offs, stated plainly: this is a full-service firm where DWI is one practice line among many, and its fee structure — unpublished, and presumably priced to its Fifth Avenue profile — will not suit every first-offense defendant; the boutiques in this category exist for a reason. The consumer-review record is thin relative to the category, so the ordinary client experience is harder to independently assess. And several of the firm’s cited recognitions are firm-reported or commercial-publication listings, which we weight below the verifiable judicial and appellate record.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys in August 2026 without the participation, sponsorship, or payment of Aidala, Bertuna & Kamins, P.C. Primary sources: the firm’s website (aidalalaw.com), including its criminal defense and DUI/DWI practice pages and firm news. Independent verification: Super Lawyers firm and attorney profiles (Manhattan office at 546 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor; Aidala’s and Bertuna’s DUI/DWI practice listings); LinkedIn company profile (office structure, practice scope); third-party directory listings corroborating the Brooklyn office and the retired-judge roster (Kamins, Leventhal, Lewis, Farkas). High-profile client engagements are as reported in the firm’s own published materials. The absence of a consolidated consumer-review base is disclosed in Client Voice. Statutes cited in the New York Legal Backdrop were verified against New York Vehicle and Traffic Law §§ 1192, 1193, 1194, and 1198.
Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice
Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal-directory publisher. This profile was not paid for by Aidala, Bertuna & Kamins, P.C., and inclusion in our editorial coverage cannot be purchased. Our methodology and editorial standards are applied consistently across all firms we cover.