Robert C. Gottlieb

Mr. Gottlieb has spent his entire professional life committed to fighting injustice wherever it is found. He and his firm proudly and successfully represented Jon-Adrian Velazquez for more than a decade to establish that he was wrongfully convicted of a 1998 murder. Mr. Velazquez was granted clemency and released from prison after serving more than 23 years in Sing Sing prison and was fully exonerated in 2024.  MSNBC televised a 4-part series, “Sing Sing Chronicles” in November 2024 that documented Robert Gottlieb and his team’s contentious battle with the District Attorney and judiciary to exonerate Mr. Velazquez.

In 2008, Mr. Gottlieb was appointed to the New York State Bar Association's Task Force on Wrongful Convictions to investigate the causes of wrongful convictions and recommend changes in the criminal justice system to prevent innocent people being wrongfully convicted. 

Mr. Gottlieb is a frequent lecturer and writer on criminal law and political issues for a wide array of media as well as state and national bar associations.  He has also served as an adjunct professor in Trial Practice at Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in Huntington, New York. Gottlieb has been a Super Lawyers selectee in Criminal law since 2015. He is an active member of the International Network of Boutique Law Firms (INBLF), an international organization of preeminent international lawyers. He is a member of the New York State and National Associations of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Federal Bar Council and the New York State Bar Association.

Mr. Gottlieb is a member of the bar of New York State and is admitted to practice in the federal courts of the Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York, United States Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. He has been admitted pro hac vice to represent clients in states throughout the United States including California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Arizona. Mr. Gottlieb received his college degree from Cornell University in 1972 and a Juris Doctor degree from New York University in 1975.

Prior to founding his criminal defense firm in 1983, he served as an assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office where he prosecuted predominately homicide cases.He is an expert in criminal law and has appeared on the CBS Morning News, Good Morning America, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, providing legal analysis.Mr. Gottlieb has long been involved in fighting for justice and positive change.  In 1971-1973 he was elected as the first student to sit on Cornell University’s Board of Trustees.

In 1972, he served as National Student Coordinator for Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm when she ran for President of the United States.  Her presidential campaign was the subject of a 2024 movie, “Shirley,” on Netflix starring Regina King and Lucas Hedges, who played Robert Gottlieb.