About the firm
The Toner Law Firm is a Garden City practice built around one trial lawyer. When you call, you speak with the attorney who will stand up in court for you. That is not a limitation of the firm. It is the reason it works the way it does.
What we believe
In many firms the person who takes your call is not the person who handles your case, and you find that out at the courthouse. Here there is no handoff. James Toner meets you, advises you, negotiates for you and, if it comes to it, tries the case. There is one person accountable for the outcome.
Most criminal cases end in a plea and most injury claims end in a settlement. The number you are offered is not a measure of justice. It is a measure of what the prosecutor or the insurer believes will happen if the case is tried. A lawyer who does not try cases has less to bargain with, whatever they say on the phone.
Arrests happen at night and on weekends. Accidents do not wait for Monday. The line is answered twenty-four hours a day and urgent calls reach the attorney. Research on law firms consistently finds that a significant share of calls to firms go unanswered entirely. That is a low bar, and clearing it matters more than any slogan.
The practice
James Toner was born and raised on Long Island, went to Chaminade, and took both his business degree and his law degree at Hofstra. He began trying cases as a student intern at the Miami-Dade County Public Defender's Office and won a not-guilty verdict on a felony jury trial before he had graduated.
He came home to defend cases at the Nassau County Legal Aid Society, then spent roughly three decades in private practice from an office directly across the street from the Nassau County courthouse in Mineola. The firm is now at 100 Garden City Plaza, a few minutes away, appearing in the same courts it always has.
Full biography and case recordWho the firm acts for
Not corporations, and not people who have done this before. Most clients have never been arrested, never sued anyone, and never needed a lawyer until the week they called.
People facing charges
From a first arrest that threatens a job or a professional license, to a felony indictment carrying real prison exposure. The firm has tried homicide, narcotics, white-collar and Attorney General prosecutions to a jury.
People who were injured
Hurt in a collision, on a construction site, on someone else's property, or in a fire, and now dealing with an insurer whose business model is paying as little as possible. No fee unless there is a recovery.
Drivers
People whose license is the thing holding their life together, including commercial drivers for whom a routine plea can end a career. Suspensions, revocations, points and DWI.
Families in two courts at once
Where a criminal charge and a Family Court petition come out of the same night, and what is said in one proceeding can be used in the other.
Spanish-speaking clients
The firm has long represented Spanish-speaking clients across Long Island, including in wage theft and accident matters where language has been used against people.
Non-citizens
Where the immigration consequence of a plea can be far worse than the sentence, and has to be analyzed before anything is agreed.
Speak with a lawyer
It costs nothing, it commits you to nothing, and it is confidential either way.
(516) 294-1133
Toner Law Firm
100 Garden City Plaza, Suite 400
Garden City, New York 11530
Attorney Advertising. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
