Daniel James Vondra

Dan was admitted to the Iowa Bar in 2004, and has been practicing law in Iowa and throughout the United States since then. Shortly after graduating from law school, Dan had his first felony jury trial, which resulted in an acquittal on a forgery charge in Johnson County, Iowa. Two years later, Dan represented a woman facing child endangerment charges and gained valuable jury trial experience on a case that he argued all the way to the Iowa Supreme Court (State v. Mitchell, 757 N.W.2d 431, Iowa 2008).

Dan’s next appearance before the Iowa Supreme Court resulted in the landmark decision of Morales Diaz vs. State of Iowa, 896 N.W. 2d 723 (Iowa 2017). Morales Diaz was a post-conviction relief application, in which Dan successfully argued that Diaz’s trial attorney, who advised him to plead guilty, did not inform Diaz of the immigration consequences of his guilty plea, which meant that his guilty plea was not knowing and voluntary.

In addition to Iowa state court trial experience, Dan has extensive trial court and appellate experience in Iowa’s federal courts. Dan is admitted to the Northern and Southern District Courts of Iowa and has appeared as trial counsel in Davenport, Des Moines, and Cedar Rapids’ federal courts.

Dan’s latest victory at the federal level was at the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. The case involved a federal criminal offense, and the Circuit Court overruled the district court’s use of hearsay evidence against an accused in a supervised release revocation hearing. United States vs. Timmons, 950 F.3d 1047 (8th Cir. 2020).

Dan has successfully represented clients with immigration cases across the United States, from immigration courts in San Diego and Los Angeles, all the way to New York City.

Due to his zealous advocacy and advanced knowledge of cutting-edge issues in criminal, immigration, and trial law, Dan is a frequent speaker at community and continuing legal education (CLE) events.