Barry Slotnick

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.

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

In 2004, Slotnick worked with his son Stuart to defend retired Army Captain Jay Ferriola pro-bono. Ferriola had been ordered to redeploy to Iraq after completing eight years of service, and then 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.

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 of June Gumbel—wife of television personality Bryant Gumbel. Slotnick also represented Tim Richmond during his attempted comeback in 1988, when NASCAR suspended Richmond for testing positive for banned substances.

In 1985, Slotnick defended Bernhard Goetz, who shot four young black men on a New York City subway. Goetz was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and several firearms offenses. Goetz maintained that he acted in self defense. The trial received national attention. 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.

Barry I. Slotnick (born 1939) is a New York City-based defense attorney. Slotnick is well-known for defending infamous Mafia crime boss, John Gotti and New York City subway shooter, Bernhard Goetz. Along with his son Stuart, he negotiated former First Lady, Melania Trump's pre-nuptial agreement with Donald Trump. In 2021, he was the subject of a NY Times best seller, "The Defense Lawyer", written by author, James Patterson, chronicling Slotnick's 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.