Gary Kaufman aggressively fights for the freedom, and reputation of his clients, both inside and out of the courtroom.
Gary Kaufman began to notice the fundamental unfairness of our criminal justice system at a young age. By the time Mr. Kaufman got to law school he wanted to learn more about a system that incarcerates its citizens at a rate that outpaces almost every other county on the world.
As a second year law student at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Mr. Kaufman enrolled in the Innocence Project Clinic where he came to see the pain and suffering inflicted on those convicted of crimes and their loved ones. He came face to face with the startling reality that people are wrongly accused and became determined to fight for the rights of the accused regardless of their actual innocence or guilt. After completing law school, Mr. Kaufman took a job at the Office of the Public Defender of the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida, in Orlando, where in his first year in practice Mr. Kaufman took seven cases to jury trials, and won the majority of them. After a year in Orlando, Mr. Kaufman moved home to the New York/New Jersey area and began practicing as a public defense attorney in Staten Island at Staten Island Legal Defense Services, where Mr. Kaufman was quickly promoted to a felony attorney and named the office’s point person on Judicial Diversion for Narcotics Felonies. Mr. Kaufman continued trying case at a rate outpacing his colleagues and winning the majority of those trials.
Eventually, Mr. Kaufman moved to the nationally recognized Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, where he continued to represent individuals charged with all levels of felonies and misdemeanors and tried serious cases with positive results. Through NDS’s holistic approach Mr. Kaufman gained experience representing juveniles facing suspension before New York City’s Office of School Suspension. Now in private practice, Mr. Kaufman has taken this experience, and uses it to apply a thoughtful and aggressive strategy to provide the best possible results for each and every one of his clients. Mr. Kaufman is a skilled trial lawyer and an effective negotiator and is constantly honing his craft to best serve his clients. Mr. Kaufman represents people who have been or may be charged with crimes in the state and federal courts of New York and New Jersey. His office is in Manhattan.
Mr. Kaufman has been trained by the National Criminal Defense College’s Trial College and Advanced Cross Examination Courses. Mr. Kaufman has taught Continuing Legal Education Classes to other criminal defense attorneys in the areas of New York Criminal Law 101, Plea Negotiation and Possible Dispositions, Drunk Driving Defense, Grand Jury Practice, and Judicial Diversion for Narcotics Felonies.
Mr. Kaufman serves as an adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law where he teaches Fundamental Lawyering Skills as part of the Legal English Institute.
Mr. Kaufman is involved with New York City Bar Association formerly serving as Chair of the Small Law Firm Committee and on the Criminal Courts Committee. Mr. Kaufman is also a member the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the New York State Defender’s Association, The New York Criminal Bar Association, and the New York County Lawyer’s Association.
Mr. Kaufman has been named a Super Lawyers Rising Star in the area of Criminal Defense, a National Trial Lawyers top 100 Criminal Defense Attorney and has been placed on their 40 under 40 list, and has been named to the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys Ten Best list for Criminal Defense in New York City.
Mr. Kaufman has been appointed to the New York County Felony 18B Panel and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York’s Criminal Justice Act Panels.
