Buffalo, NY-- His Office is not ornate, by any means, the walls are plain, the desk, though nice, is not a decorative piece. “It serves it’s purpose”, he says as he sits down. James Auricchio is a large man, but his demeanor is gentle as he explains his career path. He easily looks his audience in the eyes when discussing a number of issues, but when the topic turns to him, he seems to quiet. He is not his favorite topic.
“I went to UB Law [The State University at Buffalo Law School],” he starts, “with every intention of going into commercial transactions, corporate law, but the more work I did in litigation and in particular, Trials, the more I came to love it.” His first job out of law school was with a respected firm with Offices in Buffalo and Rochester, but it became clear to him that he would never get the trial experience he wanted.
“I happened to meet a bunch of Assistant DA’s at lunch one day in Rochester, and they encouraged me to mail my resume into the District Attorney. I thought there wasn’t a chance I’d be hired. I didn’t have political connections, particularly in Rochester, but that office [The Monroe County District Attorney’s Office] wasn’t really political. I was shocked when I was called for an interview, and even more shocked when Howard Relin, the DA at the time, called to offer me a job.”
Auricchio would spend the next three years at the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office. “It was an incredible experience. There were times, if you had asked me back then, that I would have told you that I hated it, but I learned an incredible amount from some really bright minds.”
Auricchio recalls a few Judges that seemed to delight in teaching him the law, often at the expense of his pride. “They beat me up pretty good,” he says with a smile. “I really didn’t appreciate it at the time, but it really motivated me to learn the law and to learn the practice of law.”
He followed the typical path of young Assistant District Attorneys, working his way up through Town and City Courts before working in the Felony DWI and County Court Bureaus. “It’s strange to see that the people that joined that office around the same time, or even after me, are now Bureau Chiefs and supervisors,” but my wife and I really wanted to move back to the Buffalo area, where we’re from.” When he left, he was one of a number of experienced prosecutors that left, which the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle attributed to a pay freeze by county lawmakers, but Auricchio insists he simply wanted to move home.
In 2004 Auricchio was appointed as an Assistant District Attorney in Erie County. “I tried my hand at some civil litigation for a brief time when we first moved home, but I hated it. It just wasn’t for me.” He pauses, trying to find a better way to put it. “I wanted there to be more at stake than an insurance policy, I guess.”
Auricchio was initially appointed to the Buffalo City Court Bureau, for a few weeks, before he was promoted to the Special Investigations Bureau, where he initially handled Narcotics and Violent Felonies. Just 14 months into the job, he was promoted again, to serve as the bureau chief of the newly formed State Tax Evasion Bureau. He was also assigned to a number of high profile public corruption cases by Frank J. Clark, the Erie County District Attorney at the time.
“It was an incredible amount of responsibility, but I was fortunate enough to have smart people around me,” he says. Over the next three years, Auricchio worked on some of the biggest cases in Western New York, particularly involving allegations of public corruption and tax evasion.
In 2006 he worked with a group formed by a number of local police agencies to identify and prosecute a ring of individuals that were accused of brazenly dealing cocaine in the open at a number of local bars. The case resulted in the arrest of ten individuals, and the seizure of assets valued in excess of $500,000. For his involvement, he earned the Erie County Law Enforcement’s Annual Commendation, along with four detectives from Orchard Park, Lancaster and East Aurora. It was the first effort of its kind, a taskforce of local departments that concentrated on following the drugs, unimpeded by jurisdictional issues. In 2007 he was assigned to handle a delicate case in the East side of the city which sparked racial tensions that summer. In 2008 he led a second taskforce of State and City Law Enforcement to investigate a series of attacks on the New York State Department of Motorvehicles and their employees and was assigned by Clark to succeed Frank A. Sedita on a public corruption case involving CIty Hall in Buffalo.
By 2008, Auricchio was approached by then United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, Terry Flynn, who initially appointed Auricchio as a Special Assistant United States Attorney, the title used for personnel authorized to serve as Assistant United States Attorneys that remain the employee of another law enforcement agency. It wasn’t long before he was recruited to join Department of Justice full time. While he was initially hired for the White Collar Division of the United State’s Attorney’s Office, he was assigned to the Narcotics Division once his background investigation was completed. “It was just a matter of need I guess,” he recounted.
During his tenure with the US Attorney’s Office, he worked closely with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service, and the Division of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) investigating international drug trafficking organizations, funded by Anti Organized Crime initiatives of the Department of Justice. But he soon lost his zeal for prosecuting drug offenders, particularly low level users, and grew frustrated by what he felt was over-reliance on confidential informants who often had serious issues with credibility.
“I was told more than once to simply take someone’s word for it,” he says, “when I had learned long before to trust but verify any information you are going to rely on in Court.”
After just a year with the Federal Government, Auricchio announced that he would leave the US Attorney’s Office to start his own practice. While many colleagues told him he was crazy to leave the relative comfort of public service, he says he knew it was time. “I’m still really in awe, the amount of enjoyment I get from helping individuals that are accused of a crime. If you would have told me five years ago that I would love my job as a defense attorney this much, I would have told you you’re crazy. I never viewed my role as a Prosecutor as one of ‘good’ versus ‘evil’, but after 9 years as a prosecutor, I knew there was always more to the story than just a clean cut picture of guilt or innocence.”
Auricchio says he has come to enjoy holding the Government to the same standards as the accused. “So often the Government breaks its own rules in making allegations against its citizens. It’s not the majority of cases, but it’s a significant percentage, and those cases are where I really love to dig in.”
At 38 years old, he has more than his share of distinctions, commendations and awards, and in just two years as a defense attorney he’s earned some significant victories. “The first two felony cases I handled as a defense attorney were dismissed by Supreme Court judges. I think that probably made me a little over confident for a little while, but it also taught me to trust my ability to identify serious issues in a case and vigorously pursue them. “
Auricchio says it also taught him the importance of giving a truthful assessment of a case to his clients. “In both cases, once we saw the problems with the case, I told the client, ‘Look I think it’s unlikely that we’ll win on these issues, but the law is on our side, and I’m going to do my best.’ Clients appreciate the candor, and in both of those early cases, I was presently surprised that ‘my best’ was enough to let my clients go free."
Auricchio grew up in a suburb of Buffalo, and his parents sent him to Saint Francis High school to ‘learn discipline’ he says. “The combination of Franciscan discipline and Jesuit curiosity has served me pretty well.” Auricchio attended John Carroll University, which is where the Jesuits came into his life. “By the time I graduated from UB I was willing to question anything, and I guess that’s served me well.”
Today he shares his time between two offices, one in “The Cornell Mansion” which some of the most battle tested Attorneys in the Western New York criminal defense bar call home, and the second, a shared space with his brother’s insurance brokerage in West Seneca.
“I needed other Attorneys to bounce ideas off of, and 484 Delaware has definitely served that purpose. I’m lucky to have the space in West Seneca too, which is where most of my office support comes from.”
Auricchio will celebrate the third anniversary of his firm in May of 2012, and while he recognizes his experience in the criminal justice system is substantial, he says he still learns something new each day. “You never stop learning, but I’m lucky to have lessons learned too.”
He starts his desktop computer as things wrap up. The other lawyers in the building make fun of his array of monitors that sits on the desk. “I promised myself that if I was going to do this on my own, I was going to do it smarter,” he says when asked about the screens. “I read that two monitors increases productivity, so I bought three.”
Auricchio says he’s learned to deal with the jokes made at his expense, if it means making things more efficient. “I’ve created my practice the way I wanted to do it, investing heavily in technology to save time and pay better attention to the work my clients pay me for.”
As the monitors light up, he admits, “plus I’m a geek.”
James Quinn Auricchio, Esq. can be reached at jqa@auricchiolawfirm.com or by calling 716.941.4336