The Law Office of James L Riotto

Worst. Attorney. Ever. Did he even attend law school or just bribe local law enforcement & judges to let him play attorney?

Billed $8,500 for pretrial services, filed nothing with the court, and didn't even show up at the arraignment despite over a week's notice and being paid in advance. See below for details from my search for a legal malpractice case.

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The following items show how no material service was provided by Riotto's office, none of which where addressed by any of the other three attorneys either: (1) The nature of the arrest occurring after the arraignment; (2) no representative from Riotto's office being present at the arraignment, despite payment of services and one week's notice, along with no attempt to reschedule said arraignment given my attorney, the prosecutor, Prull, and the victim were all absent and no witness was at the scene at the time of the incident; (3) the arresting officer had no knowledge of the case; (4) the sole evidence shown behind the charges was based on perjury (Prull) and hearsay (the victim, who was not present and thus not a witness); (5) Prull was not wearing a body camera (against the Sheriff Office's policy) either during our initial meeting or at the hospital; (6) the case should have been taken in pre-trial as a Huntley Hearing and a Dunaway Hearing given the illegal actions behind the charge and the arrest done by both Prull and the other Sheriff's Office deputies (note: the original responding deputy, Deputy Lane, did not file a charge, and I have reason to believe that Prull and the victim are personally acquainted, as well as Prull, the victim, and Cook, the overseeing judge); (7) given no additional material discovery items were provided by the prosecutor until the mandated pre-trial period of discovery was well over the days cited in NYS statute, this case should have been dismissed, yet no motions of any kind were filed to this effect; (8) Mr. Riotto claimed $8,500 in charges for pretrial services, spending time contacting my sister, brother in law, and parents to inform them I was mentally ill and needed to be "in rehab," despite none of these individuals having a single connection to either Rochester or the case in question; and (9) after learning that he had done no work whatsoever on the case from my direct contacts with the court, I disputed the charges on my credit card with Capital One Bank, which he contested (providing a detailed, itemized summary showing lengthy discussions with the aforementioned family members as well as Special Agent Katie Tonzelli of the FBI as justification for his billing), after which Capital One initially ruled in his favor. Immediately after this, he filed a solitary motion to withdraw as counsel.

I hired Jim Riotto when I was pulled over for doing 55 in a 30, in Monroe County. From the time I called him to the time he got me his amazing result, he had me well informed the whole way and could not have been better. I really appreciate everything he did for me as I was looking at a possible license suspension based on my history. His office was just a pleasure to deal with from start to finish. I highly recommend him

I had Riotto law office represent me on a city traffic case. The ticket was 4 points. I paid the attorney , they did not get any points reduced. Upon asking fir a copy of the case file for proof of what was done to defend me on the case I was denied. If I give $350 to my accountant I get a detailed report invoice stating what was done for my $350. I wound expect if they were not hiding anything that thus simple request should have been an easy one to provide. Simply prove what was don't for my money . I require this from all of my vendors , but apparently Riotto is fearful of disclosing what was not done.