Matthew Galluzzo
August 15, 2012
A criminal defense and civil rights attorney in Manhattan
Biography
Matthew Galluzzo is a criminal defense and civil rights attorney in Manhattan. He began his career as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where, over the course of seven years, he investigated and prosecuted a wide range of crimes—virtually everything from financial fraud to murder—before eventually specializing in rape and sexual assault matters.
In 2009, he co-founded Galluzzo & Johnson LLP, a law firm with its office on Wall Street. He now defends criminal defendants in state and federal courts in the New York City area; pursues civil claims on behalf of victims of false arrests and police brutality; and advises and represents victims of rape and sexual assault.
Matthew is fluent in written and spoken French because his American father grew up in France and taught it to him in their home. In May 2011, he was named Avocat-Conseil en Droit Pénal by the French Consulate in New York. As a result of that appointment, he regularly represents French citizens facing criminal charges in the New York City area; in fact, approximately one half of his clients are French.
Matthew is a regular news commentator on criminal law-related topics and has appeared countless times on American, Canadian, and French television. In 2011, his use of social media was the subject of a feature in the Wall Street Journal.
In 2012, Matthew was hired by the South African government to assist in the training of their sex crimes prosecutors and law enforcement officers, and recently spent two weeks in Cape Town and Pretoria leading training sessions and seminars on the subject of the investigation and prosecution of gender-based and sexual assaults.
Matthew earned his law degree from Northwestern University School of Law and his undergraduate degree in economics from Duke University. He lives in Greenwich, Connecticut with his wife, Michaela, and his two-year old daughter, Gabriella.
Interview
What are your favorite things to do outside of work?
In my very limited spare time I enjoy basketball, cycling, piano, cooking, and travel and have twice completed the New York City Triathlon.
What are you most excited to do, learn, or see during your upcoming trip to France as part of the program?
I am very excited to meet the other Young Leaders and also very proud to have been selected to be in the program.
When you were 10 years old, what job did you imagine yourself having?
Inspired by the movie “Top Gun,” my first career aspiration was to be a fighter pilot. I sometimes wonders why I abandoned that ambition.