Barry Slotnick

Early life

Slotnick was born in The Bronx in 1939 to Orthodox Jewish Russian immigrants. He graduated with a B.A. from City College of the City University of New York, a J.D. from New York University Law School, and was admitted to the bar at age 21. After graduating from law school, Slotnick established his own practice in Manhattan. Slotnick specialized in criminal defense, and found clients by sitting in the front row of a court, waiting until the judges would say “Slotnick, the next client is yours.” From there, he started his own "boutique law firm" that eventually became Slotnick, Shapiro & Crocker.

Bernhard Goetz trial

During the 1980s, Slotnick defended Bernhard Goetz, who shot four would-be muggers on a New York City subway. Goetz was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and several firearms offenses. The trial received national attention, and a Manhattan jury found Goetz not guilty of all charges except an illegal firearms possession count, for which he served two-thirds of a one-year sentence.

The New York Times attributed the victory to Slotnick’s “clever courtroom tactics,” noting that he “turned out to be a shrewder, more accomplished performer than the prosecutor, Gregory Waples.” In particular, Slotnick’s aggressive questioning of James Ramseur, one of the four shot by Goetz, caused Ramseur to react explosively, which resulted in Ramseur’s entire testimony being stricken from the record including negative statements Ramseur made about Goetz.

When later talking about the case, Slotnick said "I've had greater victories and I've had much more difficult cases to try, but for the public perception, for the public need, Goetz was important. Goetz was my public service case.”

Career

Originally an appellate attorney, Slotnick eventually began doing high-profile criminal cases that garnered national media attention. In his early 30’s, Slotnick defended Mafia boss Joe Colombo in front of the United States Supreme Court and won. Ultimately, the New York Court of Appeals declared New York's contempt statute unconstitutional. He would later be the major lawyer of the first John Gotti case, by which Gotti and his associates were all acquitted.

Slotnick has also represented former Democratic Congressman Mario Biaggi, as well as Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov, who was accused by the United States Department of Justice of being a major boss of the Russian mafia. He then represented casino magnate Steve Wynn, Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, and Rabbi Meir Kahane. He also handled the divorce proceedings on behalf of actor Anthony Quinn and June Gumbel—wife of television personality Bryant Gumbel.

In 2004, Slotnick defended retired Army Captain Jay Ferriola pro-bono with his son Stuart Slotnick. Ferriola was ordered to redeploy to Iraq after completing eight years of service, and sued the Army on the grounds that they violated his due process rights. The Department of Defense later allowed Ferriola to retire from the Army. The case was the first to challenge the Army's stop-loss policy, which had affected tens of thousands of soldiers since the start of the Iraq War. Slotnick then successfully tried four similar cases.

With his son, Stuart, Slotnick also obtained a settlement for publicly traded company Sportingbet with the U.S. Government's Department of Justice for $30 million and a non-prosecution agreement. This amount was a quarter of what competing site PartyGaming paid in a similar lawsuit. Pursuant to the non prosecution agreement, Sportingbet will not be indicted for their criminal acts in the United States.

During 2005, he merged Slotnick Shapiro & Crocker with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, with which he is currently a partner and shareholder.

Slotnick has been a member of the New York Governor's Judicial Selection Committee, Chairman of the New York State Bar Association's Committee on Capital Crimes, and a former Special Deputy Attorney General.

Personal life

Slotnick is married to Donna Slotnick and has four children, one of whom is attorney Stuart Slotnick, best known for defending the company American Apparel.

He once had a 12 year winning streak, and has said that his favorite client was Winnie the Pooh, whom he represents adverse to Disneyland. He received the American Lawyer's AMMY Award as the best defense lawyer in America, was named to the New York Super Lawyer List during 2006, 2007, and 2009, and was included in the American Trial Lawyers Association Top 100 Trial Lawyers of 2009.