Shrager Defense Attorneys

Focus and practice areas

The firm handles criminal defense and DUI law from an office in downtown Pittsburgh. It takes felony, misdemeanor, and summary offense charges, and its lawyers appear in state, federal, and magisterial district courts. That range means the same team can stay with a case whether it begins with a local citation or a federal indictment.

The work stays inside criminal law and covers a lot of ground within it. Listed practice areas include DUI and DWI, drug crimes, theft and property offenses, assault and other violent crimes, white collar matters and fraud, sex crimes, weapons charges, and juvenile cases. The firm also takes homicide cases and handles expungement for clients trying to clear a record.

DUI and DWI defense carries its own emphasis next to the broader criminal work. Both kinds of case move through the same Allegheny County courts, so keeping them under one roof makes practical sense for the people who walk in. The firm frames itself around criminal defense and DUI together, and the case list backs that up.

A downtown office with a long history

Donald I. Shrager started the firm in 1967, and it has worked from the same address ever since. The office sits in the Frick Building, across from the Allegheny County Courthouse. The firm has kept that address for its entire run, close to sixty years. That is a long stretch in one building, steps from the court where much of its work lands.

Donald Shrager built the practice over several decades. He earned a bachelor's degree and a law degree at the University of Pittsburgh, then clerked for Judge Olbum in Allegheny County. He had belonged to the Allegheny County Bar Association since 1965. He died in August 2019, and the firm he founded stayed in the family. David Shrager has carried it forward from the same downtown base.

Who leads the practice now

David J. Shrager, the founder's son, leads the firm today. He has represented clients in criminal cases for more than 25 years. Super Lawyers has recognized him in its listings every year since 2017, most recently for 2026, and Pittsburgh Magazine has profiled him.

He also answers his own phone. Clients reach him directly by phone or text, and he gives legal analysis and interviews on local news channels. Those appearances also put the firm's name in front of a local audience beyond its own clients. In my opinion that direct line to the lead attorney tells you something real about how the firm wants to work with the people it represents.

How the team is built

Several other lawyers work with David Shrager. Kevin Chernosky is a former Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney, so he has watched criminal cases come together from the prosecution side. That background can help a defense team read how the other side is likely to think. Five attorneys make up the current firm, and each brings a criminal-law background to it.

Trial and teaching experience

Shelley Duff practices criminal defense with a focus on DUI and DWI matters. Lyle Dresbold is a criminal defense trial attorney and a Pittsburgh native. He earned his Juris Doctor from Duquesne University School of Law in 2008 and received the Order of the Barristers for oral advocacy and brief writing. He has taught trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at Duquesne and worked as an instructor in criminal law and evidence. Frankie J. Exler rounds out the group, with a practice centered on criminal law.

Where the firm takes cases

Most of the work centers on Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. The firm also represents clients across a wider stretch of Western Pennsylvania. That reach covers Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana, Mercer, Washington, and Westmoreland counties, which puts a single downtown office within range of courts well outside the city.

Handling that many counties from one location is common for firms based in a county seat, since the region's criminal cases funnel toward the courts near the city. For a client outside Allegheny County, it means the same lawyer who takes the first call can follow the matter into a neighboring county's court.

What the record shows

The picture here is of a firm tied closely to one city and one kind of law. It has practiced criminal defense from the same building since 1967, and the founder's son now runs it. As a reviewer, I read that continuity as the mark of a settled, established practice.

For someone weighing a criminal or DUI charge in the Pittsburgh area, the useful points are plain. The firm keeps one clear focus, its lead attorney has a long track record and steady outside recognition, and the wider bench includes a former prosecutor and a trial lawyer with teaching credentials. Those are concrete things a person can check before deciding whom to call.

The current lineup pairs long courtroom experience with a former prosecutor's read on how cases are built. Its lawyers handle serious and minor criminal charges alike across the region's courts, and the lead attorney stays reachable throughout. The firm's base remains the Frick Building in downtown Pittsburgh.