Our Team
TOM HOFFMAN, ESQ.
Tom has spent his career representing the underdog as a civil rights, criminal defense, and family law attorney. He has focused on wrongful conviction cases since 2004, when he received a chance letter from Kareem Bellamy, then in prison for a murder he did not commit. Tom worked successfully to overturn Bellamy’s conviction, along with the law firm Cravath, Swain & Moore. Since then, he has secured or assisted with the exonerations of seven men who served a decade or more in prison for crimes they did not commit, including Robert Majors, Jaythan Kendrick, Emmanuel Cooper, George Bell, Rohan Bolt, Gary Johnson, and Rashan Hay.
Tom receives many letters from people in prison, thoroughly reviews each claim of innocence, and takes only a small number of cases. He develops close relationships with his clients, and devotes whatever resources are required to win their freedom. A seasoned trial lawyer, Tom has extensive experience handling investigations, post-conviction hearings, and civil rights actions. In recognition of his work, in 2021 the wrongful conviction organization It Could Happen To You honored him with its Servant of Justice Award.
Tom is deeply involved in the innocence community–a network of exonerees, wrongfully incarcerated individuals, their family members, and non-profits like the Innocence Project. He has helped to organize rallies on behalf of wrongfully convicted New Yorkers and lobby days in support of legislation to remove procedural bars to innocence claims.
Tom was born in hiding in Budapest during the Holocaust and immigrated to the US as a child. He graduated from City College and New York Law School. He started out as a Vista lawyer in Altus, Oklahoma, where he worked to desegregate schools and strike down a state anti-loitering statute. Prior to specializing in exonerations, he handled myriad civil rights cases and represented children and families unjustly separated by the foster care system.
Tom’s work has been made possible by his wife and paralegal, Kathleen Butler, and his longtime Secretary, Arlene Rodrigurez.
CONTACT TOM
ADMISSIONS
New York
U.S. Court of Appeals
Second Circuit
U.S. District Court
Eastern District of New York
U.S. District Court
Southern District of New York
U.S. Supreme Court