David Feige

Brainstormer, Change agent, Concerned citizen, Explorer, Filmmaker, Foodie, Idea generator, Lawyer, Writer/Editor

David Feige is a writer, law professor and documentary film maker. A credited writer/producer on over 100 hours of episodic television, he co-created the TNT series Raising the Bar with Steven Bochco and has worked as a co-executive or executive producer on shows for CBS, NBC, ABC, BET & Lifetime. 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. He has also written, produced and directed short documentary films for the Op-Docs series of the New York Times and The Marshall Project. Before becoming a television writer, David spent almost 15 years as a public defender in Brooklyn, Harlem and The Bronx, ultimately becoming one of the founding members of the first Trial Chief of The Bronx Defenders. As the Trial Chief of The Bronx Defenders, David carried a caseload of homicides and other complex felonies, supervised a staff of committed public defenders, and directed broad based legal challenges that helped bring about systemic changes to line-up procedures around the country. He has been awarded some of the highest honors given to working public defenders including the National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s Reginald Heber Smith Award. He has also served as a Professor of Law and the Director of Advocacy Programs at Seton Hall Law School, and continues to serve on the faculty of the National Criminal Defense College. Beyond the courtroom David is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of The Bronx Freedom Fund, the first licensed charitable bail organization in the country. In 2010, he authored New York's first charitable bail bill, creating for the first time an exception to the insurance law allowing licensed charitable bail organizations to operate in New York State. A version of that bill was passed in 2012. In 2019, the legislature voted to expand the provisions even further. David also serves on the advisory board of The Bail Project. David has written widely on criminal justice topics, publishing pieces in the New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Fortune, Slate, and The Nation, as well as recording commentaries for National Public Radio and offering on-air commentary for CNN and MSNBC. Indefensible, David’s book about the criminal justice system was published by Little Brown & Co. It received an “A” from Entertainment Weekly and made the best books list of Kirkus Reviews.

Fly fishing

Bail, Criminal Defense, Television Writing