Law Office of Thomas R. Villecco, P.C.

Law Office of Thomas R. Villecco, P.C.

About Our Appellate Firm

We are an appellate firm exclusively focusing on appeals in New York state. We also help other attorneys with dispositive motions and other large writing projects.

We are admitted in New York, Connecticut, the Second Circuit, and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

We have litigated over 200 appeals. Notably, in People v. Caldavado, we authored the amicus brief for the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Although family and criminal appeals are the bulk of our practice, we litigate appeals involving a broad range of legal issues, including medical malpractice, personal injury, and commercial disputes. We have litigated appeals in each of New York’s four intermediate appellate courts.

We also write articles for the New York Law Journal and deliver CLE presentations to Lawline. Our writing and teaching focus on developing legal writing skills.

Our lead attorney, Thomas, R. Villecco, earned a Bachelor of Arts from Hamilton College, and a Juris Doctor from Pace University School of Law, now known as Elizabeth Haub School of Law. After graduating cum laude, he served as an Assistant District Attorney in Bronx County, where he spent the bulk of his tenure in the Appeals Bureau. During that time, he secured important appellate victories in the Second Circuit (Rohan v. Brown), the Appellate Division, First Department (People v. Andrade), and the New York Court of Appeals (People v. Alexander).

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Appellate Victories

Representative Cases

During the last decade our practice achieved many hard-earned appellate victories for our clients. To name just a few, in Matter of L.S., 195 A.D.3d 1 (1st Dep’t 2021), the Court, in a matter of first impression, sided with our argument on an appeal from a judgment terminating our client’s parental rights. In the signed opinion, the Court adopted many of the arguments set forth in our brief, and the reversal of the judgment gave our client another chance at defending her parental rights in court. 

People v. Fletcher

In People v. Fletcher, 166 A.D.3d 796 (2d Dep’t 2018), we convinced the court to reverse our client’s conviction, even though trial counsel failed to preserve the issue below, a circumstance which ordinarily would result in the appellate court affirming the conviction. Still, we convinced the court to invoke its interest of justice jurisdiction and reverse the conviction on account of the court’s erroneous jury instructions.

Matter of David B. v. Katherine G.

In Matter of David B. v. Katherine G., 138 A.D.3d 403 (1st Dep’t 2016), we represented the mother who lost custody of her children to the father.  In a lengthy opinion, the Court reversed each of the Family Court’s findings, and granted our client sole legal and physical custody, finding that our client was the more fit parent who could serve the children’s needs.

People v. Garcia

And, finally, in People v. Garcia, 170 A.D.3d 883 (2d Dep’t 2019), we persuaded the court to reduce our client’s sentence under the Drug Law Reform Act. Although he had been convicted of class A drug felony in addition to other drug offenses, the court declared that his resentencing under the reform act was excessive. After detailing his sterling record during his confinement, and his success in rehabilitating himself, the Court subtracted seven years from the aggregate sentence, thereby resulting in his immediate release from incarceration.

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