About Dennis J. Nave
Dennis J. Nave Jr. combined a traditional legal education with public administration study. He earned his J.D. and an M.P.A. from Syracuse University in 2014 after completing a B.A. in History and Political Science at the University of Rochester in 2011. He also holds a Certificate of Advanced Study in Security Studies from Syracuse’s Maxwell School.
Early in his career Nave gathered courtroom and government experience through a series of internships. He worked in the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office and spent time at the Office of the New York State Attorney General. He also interned in the Office of Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand. Those placements exposed him to prosecutorial practice, legislative work, and state-level policy issues.
After law school he joined Xavier + Associates Defense Lawyers as an attorney in 2014. He moved from associate duties into firm leadership four years later. Since 2018 he has served as Managing Partner at Nave Law Office, where he oversees case strategy and firm operations.
Nave is admitted to practice in New York and before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. He is a member of the National College for DUI Defense and the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and he sits in the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He is also active in the Onondaga County Bar Association.
His practice has a criminal-defense orientation. He handles DUI matters and a range of criminal cases at the trial level and on appeal. The security-studies coursework he completed is part of his broader preparation for cases that raise technical or policy-driven questions.
Colleagues describe him as someone who moves readily between courtroom work and client counseling. He manages litigation while attending to the administrative demands of running a small firm. That dual role shapes how his office presents cases and prepares evidence.
Nave Law Office serves clients across central New York and litigates in state and federal courts where the firm is admitted. He continues to handle a docket of criminal-defense matters, including DUI defense and related prosecutions, while leading his firm’s practice.
He maintains active memberships in professional defense organizations and bar associations as part of his ongoing professional engagement. His current practice centers on criminal-defense litigation and DUI cases.
