Brian Steel Biography – Brian Steel Wiki

Brian Steel is a well-known criminal defense lawyer based in Atlanta. As a partner at The Steel Law Firm, P.C., his expertise extends to cases involving RICO, wire fraud, immigration fraud, and money laundering, as well as serious charges including murder, armed robbery, drug offenses, rape, and child sex crimes, handling cases in both state and federal courts.

Steel has defended a diverse range of clients, from lawyers, medical professionals, FBI agents, judges, and local police officers to elected leaders, businesspeople, athletes, celebrated music artists, and corporations, as well as representing the most vulnerable, such as juveniles and those unable to afford legal representation.

His legal practice spans courts not only in Georgia but also across several states including California, Florida, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, New Jersey, and Oregon.

Steel received his B.B.A. from University of Michigan in 1987 and his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 1990, then became a tax attorney with Price Waterhouse. In 1991, he took an internship with the Fulton County Public Defender Office.

Awards and Recognition

Steel was one of three Finalists for the Attorney of the Year Award (2017) by the Fulton County Daily Report. He has been recognized as a Georgia Super Lawyer every year since 2004 and he has been named in Georgia Trend Magazine as a Legal Elite among Criminal Defense Attorneys in Georgia every year since 2003.

Steel was named to Billboard’s 2023 Top Music Lawyers List. Brian is also the recipient of the Commitment to Justice Award, State Bar of Georgia, Younger Lawyers Section (1997). He was among the first lawyers recognized by The Fulton County Daily Report as the Criminal Defense Attorney On the Rise, (May 28, 2002).

Professional Associations and Memberships

Steel is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the preeminent organization of trial lawyers in North America as well as a Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. He is a Life Member of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (GACDL), a former member of the Amicus Curiae Committee of GACDL, a former District Vice President and a multi-term member and former Chairperson of the Lawyer’s Assistance Committee/ Strike Force of GACDL. He was formerly on the Board of Directors of the Fulton County Conflict Defender.

Brian Steel Age

Attorney Brian Steel was born in 1965 in Atlanta, GA.

Brian Steel Wife

Atlanta-based attorney Brian Steel is married to Colette Resnik Steel, who is also his law partner at The Steel Law Firm, P.C., in Atlanta, GA.

Brian Steel Family

Criminal defense attorney Brian Steel and his wife, Colette Resnik Steel, have three children; Jake, Alisa, and Bari.

Brian Steel Net Worth

Attorney Brian Steel has an estimated net worth of $50 million.

Sean “Diddy” Combs Trial

Brian Steel is representing Sean “Diddy” Combs, who has been charged with sex trafficking, racketeering, and various violent crimes. He joined Combs’s legal team in April 2025 after gaining national attention defending rapper Young Thug. Combs awaits trial at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Young Thug Trial

Brian Steel represented Atlanta rapper Young Thug in the YSL racketeering trial that lasted nearly two years — the longest criminal trial in Georgia history. Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, ended up pleading guilty to several drug-, gun- and gang-related offenses and received a sentence of 15 years probation.

Steel was briefly sent to jail during the trial after the judge overseeing the case held him in contempt for refusing to provide the judge information about what he learned of a meeting between prosecutors, a witness and the judge himself. The contempt ruling was later overturned, ABC News reported.