Joseph Tacopina

Joseph Tacopina is our exclusively recommended Criminal Law expert in New York on the Advisory Excellence website. If you need assistance in this area, please contact Joseph directly using the contact details listed above.

Joseph Tacopina, the founder and Managing Partner of the Manhattan based Law Offices of Tacopina & Seigel, specialising in criminal, civil, and securities litigation, is widely recognised as the “go to” criminal defense attorney in the country. Tacopina is included in New York Magazine as New York area’s “Top Rated Lawyer,” and named “the best-dressed, smoothest-talking, hardest-working criminal defence attorney going” in a six-page spread in GQ Magazine’s Power section.

Tacopina skyrocketed in the legal profession since his early days as a Kings County District Attorney’s Office prosecutor, where he prevailed in 39 of 40 trials. After entering private practice, Tacopina displayed his talent not only for criminal defence law, but also in public and press relations, which he has elevated to a new level in the criminal defence field. Tacopina has earned the media’s praise and frequently appears as a much sought after legal analyst by media outlets nationwide, including CNN, NBC, ABC, FoxNews, CNBC, and MSNBC. Tacopina has also headlined Primetime, 48 Hours, E! Entertainment, and Dateline and served as a special correspondent for 20/20 to investigate the controversial murder prosecution of American exchange student Amanda Knox in Italy. Notably, CBS’s “The Guardian” used Tacopina’s courtroom charm to model their main character and, one of James Patterson’s bestselling books, Private #1 Suspect included Tacopina in Chapter 80 based on his reputation as one of the best criminal defence lawyers.

Tacopina volunteers his time as an adjunct faculty member at Cardozo Law School’s Intense Trial Advocacy Program and lectures to audiences nationwide on a variety of legal issues, including speaking before the Saratoga County Bar Association and at their Law Day Ceremony. He is a judge for Yale Law School’s Mock Trial Association and is AV rated by his peers in Martindale Hubble. Joe has been consistently chosen as one of New York’s Super Lawyers in The New York Times Magazine and was recognised by the Italian American Bar Association as “Man of the Year” for his outstanding achievements. NewsWeek Magazine recently named him a nationwide leading attorney and The Italian Tribune Columbus Day Executive Board awarded Tacopina the prestigious Christopher Columbus/Publisher’s Award, which has been conferred upon many prominent individuals of Italian heritage for over 40 years including President Ronald Reagan, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Joe DiMaggio.

Because of his reputation as a premier trial attorney, Tacopina has been published in multiple venues on various aspects of trial litigation. Joe authored articles for both the New York Post and Daily News, and was a contributing author to Inside the Minds – Strategies for Defending DWI Cases in New York published by Westlaw and Take the Witness: The Experts Speak on Cross-Examination, published by Juris Publishing, Inc.

Tacopina has tried nearly 100 cases to verdict and recently received one of the largest civil verdicts in New Jersey, as well as an acquittal for a NYPD officer accused of rape and burglary in a case that garnered national media attention.