Managing Partner

Albert J.
Santoro

Trial Attorney  ·  Negotiator

Thirty years of courtrooms, conference rooms, and the judgment to know which one a matter belongs in.

AdmittedNew York · D.C. · Pennsylvania
Federal Practice7 U.S. Trial Courts · 8 U.S. Courts of Appeals
LanguagesEnglish · French · Russian · Spanish
Albert J. Santoro, Managing Partner of The Bear Firm
AJS
I. Biography
An accountant’s eye.
A prosecutor’s preparation.
A trial lawyer’s instinct.

Albert J. Santoro came to the law by way of the ledger. Trained as an accountant at New York University before earning his J.D. at Brooklyn Law School, he built his practice on a habit most lawyers never acquire: reading the numbers himself. It is a habit that has shaped three decades of work in courtrooms across New York and beyond.

Admitted to the New York bar in 1997, Mr. Santoro began his career in Brooklyn, where he authored the Kings County District Attorney’s training manual on the prosecution of vehicular offenses — an education in how cases are built that he has spent a career turning to the defense. Since then he has handled more than a thousand criminal matters, from street-level charges to homicide, white-collar, and tax prosecutions, alongside a substantial practice in commercial, construction, matrimonial, and entertainment litigation.

Clients know him in two registers. At the negotiating table he is deliberate and exacting — most disputes end in a room, not a courtroom, and he treats negotiation as advocacy of the highest order. At trial he is something else entirely. The firm's name is not an accident.

Mr. Santoro is admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States; in New York, the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania; before the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Northern, and Western Districts of New York, the District of Columbia, and the District of Colorado; before the United States Tax Court; before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, D.C., and Federal Circuits; and to practice before the Internal Revenue Service. He serves on the Criminal Advocacy Committee of the New York City Bar Association and consults with clients in English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

Prepare every case as if the jury is already seated.

The standard of the firm

II. Credentials

Education

  • Brooklyn Law School, J.D.1996
  • New York University, B.S., Accounting1993

Bar Admissions

  • New York1997
  • District of Columbia2024
  • Pennsylvania2025

Federal Trial Courts

  • United States Tax Court
  • U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y.
  • U.S. District Court, E.D.N.Y.
  • U.S. District Court, N.D.N.Y.
  • U.S. District Court, W.D.N.Y.
  • U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court, District of Colorado
  • Practice before the Internal Revenue Service

Federal Appellate Courts

  • Supreme Court of the United States
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit

Memberships

  • New York City Bar Association — Criminal Advocacy Committee
  • New York State Bar Association

Languages

  • English · French · Russian · Spanish
III. Representative Work
Felony Trial

People of the State of New York v. Pratt

Defense of a client falsely accused and facing a mandatory minimum sentence. Tried to verdict before a jury. Acquitted on all counts.

Criminal Defense

Dismissal of all felony charges

A defense sustained over two years against serious felony charges, concluding with the dismissal of every count.

Three Decades

1,000+ criminal matters; 350+ civil, tax & entertainment matters

Trials, negotiated resolutions, and dismissals across New York state courts, six federal districts, eight federal circuits, and the United States Tax Court since 1997.

Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

He never once sugar-coated anything or made promises he couldn’t keep… I watched him put in countless hours on my case and treat me like I was his own family. Client — Acquitted on all counts

Speak with the attorney
who will actually handle your matter.

Initial consultations are confidential. Offices in New York, Washington, Miami, and Philadelphia.

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