Matthew J. Galluzzo

Matthew Galluzzo is an intelligent and accomplished litigator who cares deeply about his clients. He concentrates his practice primarily in the areas of criminal defense, appeals, and the representation of whistleblowers. He has experience representing high-profile clients in high-stakes matters, and his tenacious and skillful advocacy routinely yields outstanding results for his clients. He has also helped countless professionals, foreign nationals, and promising students navigate the criminal justice system for the first time, and does so with patience, determination, empathy, and skill. As a result, his clients often rave about him and routinely refer their friends and loved ones to him. Routinely listed in Super Lawyers as one of the top criminal defense lawyers in New York, in 2014, the National Trial Lawyers Association named him to its list of the Top 100 trial lawyers in the United States. He also maintains a perfect 10.0 rating on Avvo.com, based upon peer endorsements and client reviews. You can also read about some of his high-profile and impressive trial acquittals here (rape), here (sexual abuse), and here (sexual abuse). Call him or email him to set up a consultation and you will get an honest assessment of your case and a fair quote for his services.

Not only do clients appreciate his professionalism, but foreign governments have recognized him for his expertise and skill, including, among others: South Africa (who hired him in 2012 to travel to Cape Town and Pretoria to train their law enforcement officers), France (Mr. Galluzzo serves as the Avocat-Conseil en Droit Pénal at the Consulate General of France in New York), and Saudi Arabia (he is the go-to criminal defense attorney for the Saudi consulate covering the northeastern United States). In fact, in 2023, the nation of France knighted him – making him a Chevalier in the French National Order of Merit – in recognition of his outstanding success in representing French citizens accused of crimes in New York.

Mr. Galluzzo has represented clients in homicide investigations, exceptionally difficult rape and sexual assault investigations, hotly-contested federal civil rights lawsuits involving claims of police brutality, complex conspiracies involving financial fraud, high-stakes violent crime cases, and a wide variety of other civil and criminal matters. Most attorneys are either strong writers or good courtroom advocates. Mr. Galluzzo, on the other hand, is a rare attorney in that he both possesses the academic legal ability to write sophisticated and winning briefs for New York state’s highest appellate courts, as well as the courtroom nerve and skill to win jury trials when the stakes are highest. Moreover, judges and prosecutors throughout the city respect him for his professionalism and zealous advocacy on behalf of his clients. I

Mr. Galluzzo began his career at one of the most esteemed prosecutor’s offices in the nation: the New York County District Attorney’s Office. He started in the Appeals Bureau, where he researched complex issues of criminal law, drafted briefs in response to criminal appeals, and argued several times before panels of judges at the Appellate Division, First Department. Mr. Galluzzo later transferred to the office’s Trial Division, where he oversaw the prosecution of hundreds of criminal cases and investigations and tried a dozen felony cases to verdict with an outstanding success rate. As a member of the office’s Sex Crimes Unit, he successfully prosecuted many rapes and sexual assaults. Mr. Galluzzo also developed a reputation as an outstanding domestic violence prosecutor and was promoted to a supervisory position whereby he trained the junior prosecutors in his bureau and supervised the prosecution of their misdemeanor domestic violence cases. Finally, he regularly supervised the office’s Early Case Assessment Bureau and assisted in the investigation of homicides.

Given his background as a sex crimes prosecutor, Mr. Galluzzo is uniquely qualified to represent individuals in cases involving allegations of rape and sexual assault. His trial track record in defending individuals wrongly accused of sexual assault speaks for itself (click here [rape], here [sexual abuse], and here [sexual abuse]). Indeed, Mr. Galluzzo has even been recognized as a leading expert in rape investigations by the American government. Specifically, in 2012, the U.S. Agency for International Development, in conjunction with the Justice Sector Strengthening Project, recruited and hired Mr. Galluzzo to go on assignment in South Africa to help improve the training of their prosecutors in the investigation of rapes and sex crimes. Now, in addition to defending those individuals wrongfully accused of sexual assault in criminal and civil courts, he also regularly represents and advises victims of rapes and sexual assaults. Finally, New York newspapers have asked him to write columns about pending sexual assault investigations in the news on several occasions, as well.

Mr. Galluzzo speaks fluent French and regularly assists francophone clients from around the world (including Europe, Canada, the Caribbean, and Western Africa). The French Consulate in New York (Consulat Général de France à New York) bestowed upon Mr. Galluzzo the prestigious title of Avocat-Conseil en Droit Pénal in recognition of his zealous representation of French nationals living and working in New York, as well as for his ability to communicate effectively in French. In 2012, the French American Foundation selected him and nine other Americans to participate in its prestigious Young Leaders Program. Past recipients of this honor include Bill and Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bill Bradley, Gen. Wesley Clark, current French president Emmanuel Macron, current French prime minister Edouard Philippe, recent French president François Hollande, and Citigroup chairman John Thain, among others. Mr. Galluzzo has lectured about American criminal law at Parisian law schools, and he maintains a French language website discussing American criminal law – www.droitpenal.nyc – the only such website of its kind in the United States.

Mr. Galluzzo has been interviewed by journalists countless times (in English and in French) for his expert opinion on notable criminal cases, and has appeared in dozens of American and foreign TV, radio, and print news publications including, among others: CNN, Good Day New York (Fox 5 TV), Fox News New York, ABC News New York, ABC News US, CBS News New York, CBS News US, Channel 11 News New York, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, the New York Daily News, Channel 12 News Brooklyn, Bloomberg News, the Village Voice, the Associated Press, Yahoo! News, The Washington Times, the BBC (UK), Reuters, The Regional News Network (RNN TV), DNAinfo, Yahoo! France, NPR, Slate, USA Today, the London Sunday Times, the Globe and Mail (Canada), Radio Canada TV (French), TV-A (Montréal), 98.5 FM (Montréal), Inside Edition, Die Spiegel (Germany), Arise TV, Voice of American (West African French), France 3 TV, Radio France Info, Atlantico (France), Telefrance 5, BFM-TV (France), Eurovision, France 24, Le Figaro (France), Metro France, LePoint (France), France Inter, Elle Magazine (France), Sudouest (France), Le Parisien, 20 Minutes (France), the New York Financial Press (French edition), Europe 1 (France), The Australian (newspaper), La Libre (Belgium), RadioLive in New Zealand, amNY, ARD (German TV), The Arab Times Online (English), radio in Martinique, Al-Jazeera, African television (Benin), the Angola Press (French), and the Times of Pakistan. He is a co-author of a blog about current issues in criminal law, and he and his innovative use of social media (including Twitter) have been profiled by the Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Galluzzo earned his undergraduate degree in economics from Duke University and later attended the prestigious Northwestern University School of Law, where he was a regular on the Dean’s List, served as the co-chair of the Moot Court Board, and worked in the Juvenile Criminal Defense Clinic. He also worked as the teaching assistant for a negotiations course taught to both graduate law and business students.

Mr. Galluzzo is admitted to practice law in the state courts of New York as well as in several federal courts including the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the Southern and the Eastern Districts of New York, the District of Connecticut, the Eastern District of Michigan, and the Northern District of Indiana. He is a member of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the New York State Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association, the National Italian American Bar Association, the French-American Bar Association, and the Columbian Lawyers’ Association of New York City. Mr. Galluzzo has also previously served as a panelist on the New York City Democratic Party Judicial Screening Committee.

Prior to forming The Law Office of Matthew Galluzzo, Mr. Galluzzo worked as an associate in one of Manhattan’s top boutique law firms specializing in commercial litigation and antitrust.

In his spare time, Mr. Galluzzo enjoys piano, bicycling, basketball, cooking, and travel. He also plays bass guitar in a rock band.