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Howard Tanner learned criminal law prosecuting felonies for the Kings County District Attorney, and has spent the decades since 1998 running the defense firm he co-founded at 305 Broadway — a practice trusted by the courts themselves, which have appointed him to the Southern District’s Criminal Justice Act panel and the felony and homicide assignment panels in both Manhattan and Brooklyn. His trial work has reached the national spotlight, including the federal Narcy Novack murder-for-hire case featured on Dateline NBC and 48 Hours, and DUI/DWI defense is among his designated practice areas.
At a Glance
| Firm | Tanner & Ortega, L.L.P. (co-founded 1998) |
| Managing Partner | Howard E. Tanner; co-founding partner Hugo Ortega |
| Offices | 305 Broadway, Suite 1400, New York, NY 10007 (lower Manhattan, blocks from the criminal courts); second office at 170 Hamilton Avenue, White Plains |
| Focus | Criminal defense in New York state and federal courts — DUI/DWI among Tanner’s designated practice areas — plus labor and administrative law |
| Background | Assistant District Attorney, Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney’s Office |
| Admissions | New York (1990), New Jersey (1991), District of Columbia; U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the District of New Jersey |
| Education | J.D., University of Miami School of Law (1990) |
| Fee Structure | Consultation by phone; the firm maintains a Better Business Bureau trusted-business standing |
Career History
Tanner began his legal career in 1990 out of the University of Miami School of Law, prosecuted for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, and co-founded Tanner & Ortega in 1998, where he serves as managing partner. The court-appointment record is the résumé’s spine: membership on the Criminal Justice Act panel for the Southern District of New York and on the felony and homicide assignment panels in Manhattan and Brooklyn — appointments that reflect judicial confidence in a lawyer’s ability to handle the most serious cases for indigent defendants. He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Federal Bar Council (serving on its Westchester Committee since 2015), and the Kings County Criminal Bar Association. His cases and commentary have appeared on Dateline NBC, 48 Hours, Investigation Discovery, Anderson Cooper Live, NY1, News 12, 1010 WINS, and 880 WCBS, with quotes in the New York Times, Post, Daily News, and the Associated Press.
Practice Concentration
The practice is serious-felony criminal defense in state and federal court — the Novack federal murder-for-hire trial being the marquee example — with DUI/DWI as a designated practice line: it appears among Tanner’s Super Lawyers practice areas alongside criminal defense and white-collar work, drug and alcohol violations sit in his charge list, and his public attorney-Q&A activity includes fielding DUI questions on test-refusal scenarios. The dual-office structure serves the two jurisdictions where suburban commuters’ DWI cases actually land: Manhattan’s criminal courts, blocks from the Broadway office, and Westchester’s, near the White Plains office. Labor and administrative law round out the firm’s scope — the administrative side being directly relevant to the DMV proceedings that shadow every New York refusal case.
Track Record
The record combines the verifiable and the firm-reported: the court-panel appointments and the nationally covered Novack federal trial are matters of public record; the firm’s materials describe a history of pre-trial dismissals, acquittals, and favorable pleas across serious felony cases, which we attribute as the firm’s characterization. Tanner holds Avvo’s highest “Superb” 10.0 rating. The firm publishes no DWI-specific dispositions ledger, and this research did not independently verify individual outcomes. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case.
Client Voice
Tanner’s consumer standing runs through his Avvo “Superb” rating and the firm’s Better Business Bureau trusted-business status rather than a large published testimonial base — a thinner direct-client record than the category’s volume shops, which we note plainly. His public Q&A engagement on DUI questions shows direct, practical engagement with the concerns of drunk-driving defendants. This research did not surface a pattern of negative reviews or any public disciplinary findings.
Beyond the Courtroom
The assignment-panel work is the community contribution that matters most: felony and homicide panel appointments mean Tanner regularly defends indigent New Yorkers in the gravest cases at court-set rates, and the CJA panel extends that service into federal court. His Federal Bar Council committee service and media legal commentary — explaining criminal procedure to television and radio audiences — round out a public-facing practice.
Recognition
Sorting per our standard: the court panel appointments are conferred by the judiciary and sit at the top of our weighting; the Super Lawyers selection with Criminal Defense: DUI/DWI among designated areas is peer-informed recognition from a commercial publication; the Avvo Superb rating is algorithmic and profile-based; and the National Trial Lawyers “Top 100” listing, held for over a decade, is a membership-based marketing-program award, which we label as such. 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 Tanner.
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 — an administrative proceeding, the branch of law this firm’s practice expressly includes. None of this is legal advice; consult a licensed New York attorney about your situation.
Awesome Attorneys Assessment
The case for Tanner & Ortega: prosecutorial formation, a quarter century of firm continuity, judicial-appointment credentials that cannot be bought, genuine capacity at the gravest end of the criminal spectrum, an administrative-law arm aligned with the DMV side of DWI defense, and a Manhattan-plus-Westchester footprint that matches how commuter DWI cases actually distribute.
The honest trade-offs, stated plainly: DWI is a designated line within a serious-felony practice, not the marquee — there is no dedicated DWI content, no NCDD affiliation, and no published DWI results record; the direct consumer-review base is thin relative to the category’s volume practices; the firm’s most cited accolade besides Super Lawyers is a marketing-program award, labeled above; and the firm’s intake phone number carries a Westchester area code, so Manhattan clients should confirm at first contact which office would handle their matter.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys in August 2026 without the participation, sponsorship, or payment of Tanner & Ortega, L.L.P. Primary sources: the firm’s public profiles and materials. Independent verification: Super Lawyers firm listings for both offices (305 Broadway Suite 1400, Manhattan, and 170 Hamilton Avenue, White Plains; DUI/DWI among Tanner’s designated areas) and Tanner’s Super Lawyers biography (1998 firm co-founding, 1990 Miami Law degree and New York admission, 1991 New Jersey admission, court panel appointments, association memberships, media record, the National Trial Lawyers listing labeled above); Avvo profile (Kings County ADA background, Superb rating, DC and federal admissions, USA v. Narcy Novack, Federal Bar Council Westchester Committee since 2015, DUI Q&A activity); directory listings (former-prosecutor background and firm practice description). 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 Tanner & Ortega, L.L.P., and inclusion in our editorial coverage cannot be purchased. Our methodology and editorial standards are applied consistently across all firms we cover.