About the Firm

Introduction

Burgauer Law, LLC was built on a simple idea: complex legal problems require more than a narrow legal perspective. They require judgment, technical understanding, courtroom experience, investigative insight, and the ability to see how a case will be understood by police officers, prosecutors, judges, regulators, attorneys, agencies, and clients.

Tyler E. Burgauer brings a rare combination of legal, academic, law enforcement, engineering, and government experience to the practice of law. Before founding Burgauer Law, he worked across multiple public-service and legal roles, including as a civil engineer, police officer, public defender, government attorney, and law professor. That breadth of experience shapes the way the firm approaches criminal defense, constitutional litigation, police and public safety matters, and building and fire safety law.

Engineering Background

Tyler began his professional career with an engineering education from Purdue University and later worked as a civil engineer with the Indiana Department of Transportation. That technical foundation continues to influence his legal analysis today, particularly in cases involving regulations, administrative systems, construction issues, code enforcement, fire safety, and complex factual records. Engineering requires precision, structure, and problem-solving. Those same principles are central to the way Burgauer Law evaluates legal issues.

Law Enforcement Background

Tyler also served as a police officer with multiple Indiana law enforcement agencies. That experience provides firsthand insight into patrol operations, investigations, traffic stops, searches, arrests, report writing, officer decision-making, and the realities of law enforcement work. Few attorneys have personally stood on that side of the badge. Fewer still have later defended individuals in criminal court, reviewed police conduct, and taught constitutional criminal procedure to law students.

Police Merit Commission Service

Tyler’s public safety experience also includes service on police merit commissions, including both as an appointee of a mayor and city council. In that capacity, he has been involved in matters related to police hiring, promotion, discipline, and termination. That work provides an additional perspective on law enforcement administration, officer accountability, departmental expectations, and the procedures that govern public safety agencies. It also reinforces one of the central strengths of Burgauer Law: the ability to evaluate police and public safety matters not from a single viewpoint, but from the perspectives of officers, agencies, attorneys, decision-makers, and the individuals affected by government action.

Public Defender Experience

As a public defender, Tyler represented individuals facing criminal charges and litigated constitutional issues in real cases with real consequences. That work developed the courtroom perspective that remains central to Burgauer Law: the government must be held to its burden, constitutional protections matter, and the details of an investigation often determine the outcome of a case. Search and seizure, interrogations, probable cause, suppression, and police procedure are not abstract concepts. They are the legal architecture of criminal defense.

Government Counsel Experience

Tyler’s government experience adds another dimension to the firm’s work. As counsel for the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, he handled legal issues involving driver licensing, administrative processes, and government decision-making. Later, as Deputy General Counsel for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, he worked extensively on building and fire safety law, code enforcement, administrative appeals, public safety issues, regulatory interpretation, and agency procedures. That experience allows Burgauer Law to assist clients not only in court, but also in the complex administrative and regulatory systems that often surround public safety and government enforcement.

Academic Professorship

Tyler also teaches Criminal Procedure: Investigation as an adjunct professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. His academic work focuses on the Fourth & Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, including search and seizure principles, interrogation law, Miranda jurisprudence, and related constitutional doctrines. Teaching criminal procedure requires more than knowing the cases. It requires the ability to explain difficult legal principles clearly, apply them to new facts, and understand how doctrine functions in the real world.

Conclusion

Burgauer Law draws from all of these experiences. The firm’s approach is analytical, practical, and deeply informed by how legal problems actually develop. Whether reviewing a search warrant, challenging a traffic stop, evaluating a suppression issue, advising on police procedure, handling a building or fire safety matter, or litigating a constitutional claim, Burgauer Law brings a perspective that is difficult to replicate.

This is not a general practice built to do everything. Burgauer Law is focused on areas where Tyler’s background provides a meaningful advantage: criminal defense, constitutional litigation, police and public safety matters, and building and fire safety law. The goal is to provide careful analysis, strategic judgment, and practical guidance grounded in experience from the classroom, courtroom, patrol car, engineering field, and government counsel’s office.