Criminal defense, tried and appealed.
Three decades of Georgia and federal trial work, and one of the strongest appellate records in the state.
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Criminal defense attorney, Atlanta
He began as a Fulton County public defender in 1991 and has tried criminal cases in Atlanta ever since.
EducationB.B.A. University of Michigan, 1987
Law schoolJ.D. Fordham University School of Law, 1990
Public defenderAssistant Public Defender, Fulton County, from 1991
FirmThe Steel Law Firm, P.C., founded 1997
On September 11, 2026, a federal jury in Los Angeles returned not guilty verdicts on all five counts against Durk Banks.
Read the case recordThe record
Figures drawn from published court records and reporting.
300+Published appellate opinionsReported record
45Reversals of convictionReported record
22 moLongest trial in Georgia historyYSL RICO, 2022 to 2024
1997The Steel Law Firm foundedFirm record
Practice
Georgia state court and federal court, from investigation through appeal.
Federal criminal defenseFederal court is a different system, with different rules, different sentencing, and almost no discretion left by the time of sentencing.RICO and conspiracy defenseRacketeering charges turn association into evidence. Defending them means separating what a person did from what a group is alleged to have done.Murder and violent felony defenseCases that carry life sentences are prepared differently from cases that do not. Everything is contested, and nothing is assumed.White collar and tax defenseWhite collar cases are often decided by documents, and by what a person said before they knew anyone was listening.Appeals and post-conviction reliefAn appeal is not a second trial. It is a search for the specific error that changed the outcome, and it is won or lost on the record.Drug offense defenseDrug cases are built on stop, search, seizure, and cooperation. Each of those is a place where the government can be wrong.Firearms offense defenseFirearms charges are often added to another case, and they carry mandatory consecutive terms in federal court.Sex offense defenseThese cases are tried in public long before they reach a courtroom, and the consequences extend well past sentencing.
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Reporting on the cases, drawn from the public record.
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