Dawn M. Cardi, Esq.

Ms. Cardi began her legal career in 1979 as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society, Criminal Division, where she was promoted to supervisor of trial attorneys.

In 1987, she was appointed Assistant Attorney General in the New York State Department of Law, in the division of Investor Protection and Security Fraud, where she received the New York State Special Achievement Award for successfully supervising a six-month, $34 million security fraud trial on behalf of the New York State Attorney General’s Office.

From 1990 to 1992, Dawn practiced corporate law and began her practice in matrimonial and family law as an associate at Baden, Kramer, Huffman, Brodsky & Go.

In 1992, Dawn opened her own firm, which evolved into Cardi & Edgar LLP in 2013 and continues to this date. Over the past three decades, Dawn has focused her practice on matrimonial and family law, and state and federal criminal defense as a trier of her own cases and as trial counsel for other attorneys.

In addition to pursuing her busy legal practice, Dawn is committed to public service. She performs extensive pro-bono work for the Network for Women’s Services, Sanctuary for Families’ Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services, New York Legal Assistance Corporation and other organizations.

She has served on the Board of Directors for the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Maternity Center Association (now called the Childbirth Connection), Brooklyn Young Mother’s Collective (BYMC), HOPE Charity and was a member of Community Board 6, and its various committees, in Brooklyn, New York where she lives with her husband and family.

PRESENTATIONS

Dawn is regularly invited to teach courses and lecture on topics related to trial advocacy, criminal and matrimonial law (including topics on custody litigation by fathers, rape trauma and Battered Women’s Syndrome) in such forums as bar associations and law schools, where she also conducts NITA trial advocacy programs.

Dawn is also a sought-after and frequent commentator on national television, newspapers, magazines, and radio programs, where she has provided opinion and commentary on such high-profile cases as the O.J. Simpson trial, the Duke rape case, the “Nanny” case, Anna Nicole Smith and Brittany Spears.