Daniel Spiegel joins School's criminal law faculty
The School of Government is pleased to announce the arrival of Daniel Spiegel to its faculty ranks. Joining the School’s courts division in January 2024, Spiegel will serve as a criminal law expert, working closely with the School’s Public Defense Education group in advising attorneys who defend criminal cases, including public defenders and private appointed counsel.
Spiegel comes to the School with a wealth of practice and perspective in criminal law. Previously, he served as an assistant district attorney for Durham County—working to draft pretrial release policy, plea bargaining guidelines, and other key policy documents for the District Attorney’s Office. He also served as a statewide assistant appellate defender and as an assistant public defender in Hoke and Mecklenburg counties.
Looking ahead to his School tenure, Spiegel is eager to begin writing for, teaching, and advising defenders and other court system actors seeking clarity in an increasingly complex field.
“I am most excited about being available to support practitioners as they wrestle with high caseloads and the intense challenges of criminal law practice,” he said. “I like to engage with corners of the law where our principles are tested and refined, and I imagine that I will have frequent opportunities to help court actors puzzle through these areas.”
Joining the School’s faculty, Spiegel said, is a full circle moment in his legal career—one that he helped grow through the support of the School’s resources and expertise.
“The [School] has been a beacon of expertise and fount of training since my first days as a public defender in 2010. I have benefitted from the blog, the bulletins, and the conferences on a near-daily basis throughout my career. I look forward to bringing my experiences to bear on my consulting and writing on criminal justice.”
Having worked within the lived reality of criminal justice system outcomes, Spiegel hopes his time at the School will allow him to bridge scholarship with tangibly improved outcomes in the state’s justice system.
“As my career has developed, I have gradually applied a wider lens toward criminal justice, thinking systemically about processes and procedures, data gathering, and the policies at play,” he said. “I hope to bring this wide lens to my work as faculty member here at the School, helping practitioners see the big picture as they fight for justice, one client and one case at a time.”
Spiegel earned a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, and a J.D. cum laude from Harvard University.