![5 of the Best Hit-and-Run Defense Attorneys in Nassau County, Long Island [2026]](https://giannicriminallaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/inner-banner.jpg)
I’m criminal defense attorney Gianni Karmily. If you’re facing charges for a hit-and-run on Long Island, the Law Firm of Gianni Karmily can step in and help.
Search “Nassau County hit-and-run lawyer,” and you’ll mostly find the same handful of directory sites recycling the words “verified” and “impartial” at you. It’s disingenuous. This page is an honest list of the attorneys we’d actually point a friend toward if they have been charged or are about to be charged with leaving the scene of an accident and didn’t know what to do next.
A hit-and-run charge in New York catches a lot of people off guard because it doesn’t necessarily always involve malicious intent. Sometimes it’s a driver who panicked, didn’t realize contact was made, or wasn’t sure what their legal obligation even was in the moment. None of that changes how seriously Nassau County prosecutors treat it once charges are filed.
If you’re reading this, you or someone you care about is probably staring down a leaving-the-scene charge and trying to figure out what happens next.
The following is a list of the best Nassau County hit-and-run attorneys we trust to handle cases the right way.
Hit-and-Run Defense Law Firm – Respected by Legal Industry Professionals and Trusted by Long Island Residents
One review that captures why we do this work came from a client who felt like he’d run out of options before he ever called us:
“I can’t thank Mr. Karmily enough for what he did for me. I was facing a really tough situation and honestly didn’t see a way out. From the first moment we spoke, he treated me with respect and compassion, and I could tell he truly cared about helping me, not just getting another case done.
He was straightforward, always kept me informed, and never made me feel judged. Every time I had questions or anxiety about what was happening, he took the time to explain things in a way I could actually understand. His confidence and professionalism gave me a lot of peace during one of the most stressful times of my life.
In the end, he got my charges dismissed completely — something I honestly didn’t think was possible. I’ll never forget how hard he fought for me and how much he genuinely cared about the outcome. If you ever find yourself in a difficult legal situation, this is the attorney you want standing next to you.“
— Mr. Ramirez
Related Read: How serious is leaving the scene of an accident in Nassau County?
I’m Gianni Karmily, founder of the Law Firm of Gianni Karmily, PLLC. Hit-and-run cases are unusual because the people accused can come from any walk of life, including commuters, parents and their children, and delivery drivers who made a bad call in a panicked five seconds. Over more than a decade of practicing across Long Island and New York, I’ve seen an experienced attorney turn a serious leaving-the-scene charge into a bad memory, and I’ve seen someone who went at it alone or hired the wrong lawyer end up with a permanent record they didn’t need to have. This page lists the five Nassau County hit-and-run lawyers I’d trust if it were someone in my own family.
Our law firm competes with every name on this list, and I’m listing them anyway, because I’ve watched how they handle a client who’s terrified and ashamed, and I’ve seen the results they get once a case is in front of a judge.
The stakes in a hit-and-run case are higher than people expect going in: license suspension or revocation, a permanent record, and in cases involving injury, real jail exposure. That’s worth more than any caseload, which is the entire reason this list exists.
There’s no shortage of attorneys advertising accident and hit-and-run defense on Long Island. The goal is for you to have real information before you pick one.
Qualifications for Nassau County Hit-and-Run Defense Recommendations
- Most “top lawyer” directories are advertising dressed up as objectivity. Justia, Expertise, Yelp, ThreeBest Rated, Avvo, Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, FindLaw – the people running those platforms have never argued a suppression motion over a license plate description, and they’ve never sat with a client trying to decide whether to turn themselves in before police find them first. We have, which is why this list carries more weight than a search engine ranking.
- The law firm has navigated countless felony, misdemeanor, and violation-level matters throughout Nassau County, Suffolk County, and the boroughs of New York City, including a meaningful number of leaving-the-scene and traffic-related criminal cases.
- Our firm’s practice is built specifically around defending the accused throughout Nassau County and the surrounding Long Island communities.
The Law Firm of Gianni Karmily would love to discuss your criminal charges directly, but this is your decision to make, and you deserve to make it with options in front of you. Our honest goal is to ensure you are able to make an informed decision.
Every person below shares the same approach: treat a hit-and-run charge as seriously as the person facing it does, not as a routine traffic matter. That’s the bar used to build the list for the best hit-and-run lawyers in Nassau County.
Best Hit-and-Run Lawyers in Nassau County, Long Island
- Gianni Karmily – Law Firm of Gianni Karmily, PLLC
- Andrew Karpf – Law Offices of Andrew Karpf
- Siara Ossa – Law Office of Siara Ossa
- Richard Hochhauser – Law Office of Richard Hochhauser
- David Adhami – Law Office of David A. Adhami
Gianni Karmily – Law Firm of Gianni Karmily, PLLC
Hempstead Listing on Google | Great Neck Listing on Google
Gianni Karmily is known for being a leading hit-and-run defense attorney in Nassau County and the greater Long Island region. Having handled a wide range of leaving-the-scene cases, he’s developed a close understanding of how these charges get built, often on incomplete witness accounts, partial license plate matches, or surveillance footage that raises as many questions as it answers, and where that evidence tends to fall apart under scrutiny.
For six consecutive years, Super Lawyers named Gianni Karmily a Rising Star in Criminal Law for the New York Metro region, a distinction held by less than 2.5% of younger attorneys statewide, before he naturally aged out. He’s also an active member of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NYSACDL) and the Criminal Courts Bar Association of Nassau County (CCBANC), organizations that keep him current on how Nassau County handles these cases and help ensure he continues to secure favorable results.
Gianni Karmily’s clients work with him directly, not random associates. In a hit-and-run case, where the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor can come down to a single detail, that direct involvement matters.
If you’ve been charged with leaving the scene of an accident in Nassau County, Long Island, contact the Law Firm of Gianni Karmily, PLLC.
Andrew Karpf – Law Offices of Andrew Karpf
Close to 100 jury trials, many of them taken all the way to a verdict. That’s the number that tends to come up first when other defense attorneys talk about Andrew Karpf. He’s been doing this since 1988, working Nassau and Suffolk courtrooms for nearly four decades, and the win rate on those trials is what separates him from lawyers who talk tough but are not willing to actually fight.
A Touro Law grad, Andrew ran Delta Theta Phi as President and served as Vice President of the Student Bar Association during school, credentials that read more like foreshadowing once you see how he operates a courtroom now. He still holds a seat with the Suffolk County Criminal Defense Bar and once led the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers at the executive level.
Put a hit-and-run file in front of Andrew, and he goes straight for the physical record: vehicle damage patterns, paint transfer, whatever nearby cameras actually caught versus what police assumed they caught. That gap between assumption and evidence is where he’s built his career.
If I had a family member facing a serious leaving-the-scene charge in Nassau or Suffolk, Andrew is who I’d call.
Siara Ossa – Law Office of Siara Ossa
Ask a former client what it was like working with Siara Ossa, and you’ll hear some version of the same sentence: she actually explained what was happening. That sounds like a low bar. In criminal defense, it isn’t.
She came up through the Suffolk County Legal Aid Society, cutting her teeth on thousands of cases: traffic matters and leaving-the-scene charges included, before opening her own solo practice on Long Island. Brooklyn-born and raised, she brings a directness to her work that clients tend to notice immediately.
Guilt and embarrassment keep a lot of hit-and-run defendants from asking the questions that actually matter: did they need to stop, what does the evidence really show, what happens next. Siara’s whole approach is built around getting past that hesitation: plain language, returned calls, no judgment about how someone ended up in her office.
She’s earned her spot as one of the sharper young voices in Long Island criminal defense.
Richard Hochhauser – Law Office of Richard Hochhauser
A fender-bender becomes a criminal case the moment someone drives away from it, and Richard Hochhauser has spent a large part of his career on exactly that turn, the point where an accident stops being a civil matter and starts being a prosecution.
His name carries weight among Long Island defense attorneys, built on a trial record he’s assembled by consistently finding the soft spot in the state’s version of events: an identification that doesn’t hold up, a broken evidence chain, a timeline that has more holes in it than the prosecutor wants to admit.
I’ve worked cases alongside Richard and watched how he prepares. Nothing gets left for the last minute, and it shows in how he handles himself in front of a judge. If a hit-and-run charge in Nassau County is built on evidence that seems shakier than it should be, Richard is who I’d want taking it apart.
David Adhami – Law Office of David A. Adhami
Most solo attorneys pick a lane geographically. David Adhami didn’t. His practice runs across Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Sullivan, and Dutchess Counties, plus all five boroughs, out of his Great Neck office.
He’s a Stony Brook undergrad and Touro Law grad whose path into criminal defense began with an unglamorous law school placement: the school’s Public Advocacy Center Mortgage Foreclosure Assistance program, representing people with nowhere else to turn. That instinct: show up for people in the middle of a crisis, followed him into his current practice.
Traffic and leaving-the-scene cases run heavy through his caseload, which pairs naturally with the traffic-law practice he’s built, handling thousands of moving violations statewide. When a hit-and-run charge starts tangling with license and insurance consequences, that overlap is genuinely useful. Super Lawyers has recognized him; he holds a New York State Bar license, and he stays active with the Nassau County Bar Association.
What clients bring up most often about David isn’t a case result; it’s that he answers his own phone.
FAQs About Hit-and-Run Defense Lawyers in Nassau County, Long Island
When should you hire a Nassau County hit-and-run defense attorney?
You should hire a hit-and-run attorney the moment you suspect the police are looking into an incident, ideally before an arrest is made. Whether leaving the scene gets charged as a traffic infraction, misdemeanor, or a felony often hinges on property damage, injury, or death, and a lawyer brought in early has more room to negotiate a voluntary surrender and prepare an effective defense for a hit-and-run charge.
Do you need to hire a hit-and-run lawyer “near me”?
No legal requirement says you do, but proximity buys you something real: an attorney who already knows the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, has a read on which judges are stricter over certain penalties in traffic-related cases, and can respond fast if the situation changes overnight.
How much does it cost to hire a hit-and-run attorney on Long Island?
It hinges mostly on severity, whether the charge is a misdemeanor or a felony, and whether an injury or fatality is involved, both of which drive up the evidence review and legal complexity. Flat fees are standard in this practice area: one rate through arraignment and pre-hearings motions, another if the case actually goes to hearings and trial.
How did we select the “Best” hit-and-run defense attorneys in Nassau County, Long Island?
There are no paid spots on this list. These attorneys were selected using several honest measures of quality. We weighed real courtroom experience with leaving-the-scene and traffic-related cases specifically, reputation among other defense attorneys and the prosecutors who’ve faced them, what former clients say, and results we’ve either watched happen or heard about from people we trust.
Ready to Discuss Your Situation With a Hit-and-Run Defense Lawyer?
Time works against you in a hit-and-run case more than in most criminal matters. The longer it takes to get a lawyer involved, the fewer options tend to be left on the table.
The Law Firm of Gianni Karmily, PLLC defends clients facing hit-and-run charges throughout Nassau County and the surrounding Long Island communities, handling criminal charges in Hempstead, Great Neck, Albertson, Atlantic Beach, Baldwin, Bayville, Bellmore, Bethpage, Carle Place, East Meadow, East Rockaway, East Williston, Elmont, Farmingdale, Floral Park, Franklin Square, Freeport, Garden City, Garden City Park, Glen Cove, Glen Head, Greenvale, Hicksville, Island Park, Jericho, Levittown, Locust Valley, Long Beach, Lynbrook, Malverne, Manhasset, Massapequa, Merrick, Mill Neck, Mineola, New Cassel, New Hyde Park, North Hills, Oceanside, Old Bethpage, Old Brookville, Old Westbury, Oyster Bay, Plainview, Port Washington, Rockville Centre, Roosevelt, Salisbury, Roslyn, Seaford, Sea Cliff, Syosset, The Five Towns, Uniondale, Valley Stream, Wantagh, Westbury, West Hempstead, Williston Park, and Woodbury.
Whether you end up calling the Law Firm of Gianni Karmily or one of the four attorneys above, get someone reviewing the state’s evidence before your next court date. Reach out online or call to set up a confidential case review.
About Gianni Karmily
Italian-born, Nassau County-based: Gianni Karmily’s path into criminal law wasn’t the typical one, and it shows in how he practices. He earned a B.B.A. at Hofstra University before heading to the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law to earn his J.D., where classmates elected him President of the International Law Society.
The Detroit years mattered more than the degree itself. As a law student, he interned with the Legal Aid and Defender Association, working on cases for those considered indigent not earning sufficient income. This provided an early, unfiltered look at how the system actually treats defendants without resources nor connections. That experience shaped the practice he runs today.
Now based in Great Neck and Hempstead, his firm takes on hit-and-run cases alongside DWI, domestic violence charges, assault, drug offenses, sex crimes, theft, and traffic violations throughout Long Island and New York City, a caseload broad enough that he’s rarely seeing a charge type for the first time.
Super Lawyers has named him a Rising Star in Criminal Law for the New York Metro region every year from 2019 through 2024.
