Saland Law: The Madison Avenue Defense Firm Whose Founder Prosecuted DWI Cases for the Manhattan DA

Attorney Advertising. The information on this profile does not constitute legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is formed by reading it. Past results described do not guarantee similar outcomes.

Before Jeremy Saland defended a single DWI case, he prosecuted them: his seven-plus years in Robert Morgenthau’s Manhattan District Attorney’s Office included service in the office’s DWI unit, alongside its Trial Division and Identity Theft and Domestic Violence units. The Madison Avenue firm he went on to found — originally with a fellow Manhattan prosecutor — now defends the accused across all five boroughs, with drunk-driving defense as one of its established practice lines.

At a Glance

Career History

Saland served more than seven years as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office under Robert Morgenthau, working exclusively in the Trial Division, where he was a founding member of the Identity Theft Unit — the precursor to the office’s Identity Theft and Cybercrime Bureau — supervised the Early Case Assessment Bureau, and served in the office’s DWI and Domestic Violence units. He then served as a municipal prosecutor in Westchester County; the firm’s own biographies state that tenure inconsistently as five years on one page and six on another, a discrepancy we disclose rather than resolve. He co-founded the defense firm — then Crotty Saland PC — with fellow former Manhattan prosecutor Elizabeth Crotty; the practice continues today as Saland Law PC with a three-attorney roster. His legal commentary has been featured in coverage of matters from the Strauss-Kahn indictment to the Etan Patz cold-case prosecution, and the firm’s site carries media credentials from CNN, MSNBC, Fox Business, ABC News, and NBC News.

Practice Concentration

Saland Law is a criminal-defense generalist firm with genuine depth in DWI work rather than a drunk-driving boutique. Its dedicated DWI practice materials walk through the full VTL § 1192 landscape — per se DWI, DWAI as a plead-down posture, Aggravated DWI, Leandra’s Law, portable breath tests, and ignition interlock — and the founder’s DWI-unit prosecution experience means the firm has seen these cases assembled from the inside. The broader practice spans state and federal criminal defense, larceny and white-collar matters, domestic violence, juvenile and Title IX proceedings, victim representation, and record sealing.

Track Record

The firm maintains a public case-results page and states its attorneys have obtained dismissals, negotiated felonies down to non-criminal violations, and won acquittals at jury trial, including in drunk-driving matters. Those outcomes are the firm’s own reported results, published under its own “prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome” disclaimer, and this research did not independently verify individual dispositions. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case.

Client Voice

The firm’s testimonial page is unusually colorful for the genre — one client recommended Saland as “the attorney equivalent of an alligator wrestler.” Another, a California parent whose son received a desk appearance ticket while visiting the city, credited co-founding attorney Liz Crotty with taking the case immediately and explaining every step — a review from the firm’s earlier era that speaks to the practice’s handling of out-of-state clients, a recurring situation in NYC DWI and desk-ticket cases. His client rating on Avvo is reported as “Superb.” This research did not surface a pattern of negative reviews or any public disciplinary findings.

Beyond the Courtroom

Saland’s public-service record extends past the practice: he served as treasurer of the New York City Bar Association’s Small Law Firm Committee, was elected Councilman for a Westchester County township in November 2015, and has served as Deputy Town Supervisor since 2020, including a stretch as Acting Supervisor of the municipality.

Recognition

The recognitions here require sorting, and we sort them. Super Lawyers selection is a peer-influenced, research-driven listing by a commercial publication — peer-informed recognition, not certification. The “Top 100 Trial Lawyers” designation from The National Trial Lawyers and the “Top Ten” ranking from the National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys are membership-based marketing-program awards, and readers should weigh them accordingly — we list them because the firm cites them, not because they carry independent evaluative weight comparable to peer review. His service with the Manhattan District Attorney Association reflects standing among former colleagues. 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 Saland.

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 — and in practice the destination many first-offense DWI cases plead down to; 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. None of this is legal advice; consult a licensed New York attorney about your situation.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

The distinctive asset here is prosecutorial breadth at the exact office that matters: DWI-unit experience inside the Manhattan DA’s Office, plus supervisory roles there, plus years of suburban prosecution — a résumé that maps directly onto how a New York City DWI case is actually built and charged. The multi-attorney roster and 24/7 intake also distinguish it from the solo shops in this category.

The honest trade-offs, stated plainly: DWI is one practice line at a broad criminal-defense firm, not its exclusive focus — the firm’s own practice-area menu leads with state and federal criminal defense generally. The firm’s biographies are internally inconsistent about the length of the Westchester prosecutorial tenure, a small but real sloppiness in materials that otherwise trade on precision. And two of its cited accolades are marketing-program awards rather than peer-reviewed honors, which we flag so readers can weight them properly.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys in August 2026 without the participation, sponsorship, or payment of Saland Law PC. Primary sources: the firm’s websites (new-york-lawyers.org and its affiliated practice sites), including attorney biographies, the DWI practice page, the contact page (office addresses verified directly: 274 Madison Avenue #1401, New York, NY 10016, with by-appointment satellite offices in White Plains and New City), testimonials, and case-results pages. Independent verification: Avvo attorney profile; Justia firm directory listing (firm history under the Crotty Saland name, five-borough practice scope, DWI among practice areas); Super Lawyers profile; Cornell LII attorney listing (Deputy Town Supervisor role, practice description). The internal discrepancy in the firm’s stated Westchester tenure (five vs. six years) is disclosed in Career History. 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 Saland Law PC, and inclusion in our editorial coverage cannot be purchased. Our methodology and editorial standards are applied consistently across all firms we cover.