Howard E. Tanner, Managing Partner

Howard E. Tanner, Esq., a former prosecutor, is the managing partner of Tanner & Ortega, L.L.P. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1986 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice. Upon graduating from the University of Miami School of Law in 1989, he joined the Kings County District Attorney's Office. As an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York, he successfully prosecuted the most serious felony cases, including narcotics, robberies, burglaries, rapes, assaults and murders, trying over 30 felony and misdemeanor trials to verdict. He left the District Attorney's Office in 1995 to join the law firm of Lysaght Lysaght & Kramer, P.C., where he put his expertise to work in the areas of criminal defense, labor and administrative law. During his tenure there, Mr. Tanner conducted numerous trials to verdict, successfully defending government employees, such as police officers, housing authority employees and others against allegations of assault, bribe receiving, narcotics possession and other charges. He also defended against administrative allegations of employee misconduct. He left that firm in 1998 and established the law firm of Tanner & Ortega, L.L.P.

Mr. Tanner has been successful in achieving positive outcomes for his clients by obtaining pre-trial dismissal of criminal charges, verdicts of acquittal after trial or by favorable plea bargain through rigorous negotiations with the government. He has been retained as lead defense counsel in a variety of high-profile criminal cases. He secured an acquittal after trial in the NYPD 13th Precinct peddler bribery case in New York County; He successfully defended his client against allegations in the Sean Bell murder case in Queens County, resulting in no criminal indictment; He compelled a pre-trial dismissal, by the District Attorney, of all criminal charges against his client in the NYPD 61st Precinct Insurance Fraud case in Kings County; He obtained a favorable plea bargain for his client in the Byram Hills school teacher unlawful surveillance case resulting in probation and no jail time in Westchester County; and obtained a verdict of acquittal after trial in Yonkers in the McLean Avenue bar assault case in Westchester County.

Mr. Tanner also represents clients in divorce actions in the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Rockland, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and Northern New Jersey.

Mr. Tanner has appeared as a legal analyst on Court TV, and has been frequently quoted in or interviewed by major newspaper publications such as the New York Times, New York Post, New York Daily News, Journal News, Miami Herald, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinal, the Associated Press and The Chief-Leader.  He has also appeared or has been quoted by the major television networks and local cable news and radio stations such as News 12 Westchester, 1010 WINS and 880 WCBS.

Mr. Tanner is admitted to practice in the state courts of New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia, and the Federal Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He is a member of the New York County Lawyer’s Association and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.