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Jacob Uriel spent his prosecutorial career at the gravest intersection of criminal law and the road: he rose to Deputy Bureau Chief in the Kings County District Attorney’s vehicular crimes bureau, standing at the scenes of fatal crashes as the prosecutor in charge, trying cases from drug possession to murder. Now he defends from Court Street — a Brooklyn native who taught criminal law at John Jay for nearly a decade, teaches DWI defense to other lawyers, and runs a deliberately small practice where the client’s team is the lawyer himself and a paralegal who is a military veteran.
At a Glance
| Firm | Uriel Criminal Defense, P.C. |
| Principal Attorney | Jacob Uriel |
| Office | 540 Court Street, Suite 4011, Brooklyn, NY 11231 (Carroll Gardens, on the Court Street corridor) |
| Focus | Criminal defense across the New York metropolitan area — violent felonies, gun charges, drug offenses, DWI, and vehicular crimes through vehicular homicide |
| Background | Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney’s Office — rose to Deputy Bureau Chief, vehicular crimes bureau; senior violent felony, DWI, and vehicular homicide prosecutor; then led the New York criminal defense practice at Spodek Law Group before founding his own firm |
| Education | B.A. Criminal Justice, CUNY John Jay College (2005); J.D. with criminal law concentration, Case Western Reserve University (2008); M.S. Criminology, University of Pennsylvania (2009); admitted in New York, 2008 |
| Teaching | Adjunct Professor, John Jay College Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice, 2009–2018 (Criminal Law; Constitutional Criminal Procedure); instructor, National Academy of Continuing Legal Education (“DWI Investigations and Defense Basics”) |
| Fee Structure | Free consultation; flat-fee arrangements reported by clients; published hourly range of $150–$400 |
Career History
Uriel’s formation ran through every branch of the system before he defended in it: law school internships at the NYPD’s Civil Forfeiture Bureau, the Kings County DA’s Office, and the chambers of the chief magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, followed by a post-graduate judicial fellowship. At the Brooklyn DA’s Office he handled the standard prosecutor’s diet — arraignments, grand jury presentations, hearings — but distinguished himself as a trial lawyer, prosecuting the full range from simple possession to murder and rising to Deputy Bureau Chief in charge of vehicular cases from DWI through vehicular homicide, responding personally to fatal crash scenes. Concurrently, from 2009 to 2018, he taught Criminal Law and Constitutional Criminal Procedure as an adjunct at John Jay. After leaving the DA’s Office he joined Spodek Law Group, where he was placed in charge of the firm’s New York criminal defense practice, before founding Uriel Criminal Defense to practice on his own terms.
Practice Concentration
The practice is criminal trial defense with particular depth exactly where his prosecutorial specialty was: vehicular crimes, DWI, and the violent-felony tier, including serious gun cases. His CLE course teaching other lawyers DWI investigations and defense is independent evidence of subject command, and his vehicular-homicide background means the practice can handle the catastrophic end of the driving-crime spectrum that most DWI-adjacent practices cannot. The firm is deliberately small — he describes his role as a team member walking beside the client rather than a shepherd — and maintains a notable veterans orientation: he is recognized by clients as a strong advocate for veterans, and his paralegal is a veteran himself.
Track Record
The record is trial-forward: many jury and bench trials and hearings won across both careers, per his own account, with client reviews adding specifics — including a client facing serious gun charges with alleged shots fired, where the DA sought substantial prison time, who credits Uriel with the outcome. These are attorney- and client-reported outcomes; the firm publishes recent results on its site but no comprehensive 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
The review record is warm and unusually specific about fees and service. One veteran client wrote that Uriel “charged a very reasonable flat fee and never asked for anything additional,” despite multiple court appearances, and recommended him especially to fellow veterans; another wished they could give ten stars, citing professionalism, wisdom, patience, and kindness. Reviewers consistently describe accessibility — every call, email, and text returned. One transparency note: his lawyers on the Martindale network have chosen not to display peer reviews, which we mention as a limitation on one assessment axis. This research did not surface any public disciplinary findings.
Beyond the Courtroom
The teaching record is the standout: nearly a decade training John Jay’s criminal-justice students — many of them future police officers and prosecutors — in the constitutional rules that govern their conduct, plus ongoing CLE instruction for the practicing bar. He and his paralegal, both Brooklynites, met doing volunteer work for local youth, and the practice’s veterans orientation extends the service ethic into its clientele.
Recognition
The recognitions here are institutional and pedagogical rather than promotional, and we weight them accordingly: a decade-long adjunct appointment at the country’s premier criminal-justice college, a national CLE teaching post, and the Deputy Bureau Chief promotion inside one of the nation’s largest prosecutor’s offices. 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 Uriel.
New York Legal Backdrop
A New York criminal case moves on statutory clocks that defendants rarely know exist. After arrest, arraignment generally must occur within about twenty-four hours; a felony defendant held on bail must be released under CPL § 180.80 if the prosecution fails to secure grand jury action within the statutory period (120 hours, or 144 hours spanning a weekend or holiday). CPL § 30.30 sets speedy-trial clocks — six months on most felonies, ninety days on class A misdemeanors — and New York’s discovery reform, CPL Article 245, obligates prosecutors to turn over their evidence on an automatic timetable. CPL § 160.59 permits sealing of up to two eligible convictions after ten crime-free years. At the gravest end of the driving-crime spectrum, an impaired or reckless fatality is charged under the Penal Law’s vehicular manslaughter provisions — the caseload this attorney once supervised for the prosecution. None of this is legal advice; consult a licensed New York attorney about your situation.
Awesome Attorneys Assessment
The case for Uriel is supervisory-level prosecutorial depth in a defined specialty, teaching credentials that independently verify command of the law, big-firm defense experience without the big-firm model, Court Street proximity to Brooklyn’s courts, transparent and reportedly reasonable fees, and a service ethic — veterans focus, youth volunteering, direct accessibility — that his clients describe in unusually personal terms.
The honest trade-offs, stated plainly: this is a two-person operation, with the capacity limits that implies for sprawling multi-defendant matters; the trial record is attorney- and client-reported rather than independently verifiable; peer reviews are not displayed on the Martindale network; and clients with matters far outside his vehicular and violent-felony core should ask candidly about his recent experience in their specific charge type.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys in August 2026 without the participation, sponsorship, or payment of Uriel Criminal Defense, P.C. Primary sources: the firm’s website (lawuriel.com), including its about page (education and career chronology; Deputy Bureau Chief role; John Jay adjunct tenure 2009–2018; NACLE CLE course; the team’s Brooklyn roots and volunteer history) and client reviews. Independent verification: New York Office of Court Administration attorney registration via OpenGovNY (Case Western Reserve law degree; registered office at 540 Court Street #4011; currently registered status); Yelp listing (practicing since 2008; Deputy Chief departure from the Brooklyn DA; the Spodek Law Group role leading its New York criminal defense practice; office hours); Lawyers.com (17 years licensed; practice areas including vehicular homicide; the peer-review non-display disclosed above); LawBamba (published hourly range); attorneyatlaw.com aggregated reviews. Statutes cited in the New York Legal Backdrop were verified against the New York Criminal Procedure Law (§§ 30.30, 160.59, 180.80, and Article 245).
Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice
Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal-directory publisher. This profile was not paid for by Uriel Criminal Defense, P.C., and inclusion in our editorial coverage cannot be purchased. Our methodology and editorial standards are applied consistently across all firms we cover.