Alejandro Cruz is a Partner in Patterson Belknap’s Litigation department. Mr. Cruz represents clients in complex commercial litigation, as well as in arbitrations, mediations, and investigations. His practice includes representing lawyers and law firms accused of legal malpractice, companies accused of antitrust violations, and financial institutions in a broad range of litigations, as well as disputes involving transactions and ownership of fine art. Mr. Cruz also defends clients in government investigations by federal and state agencies, as well as representing boards of directors and board committees of public companies in investigations and shareholder disputes. In addition, as a member of the Firm’s Privacy and Data Security group, Mr. Cruz advises clients on a wide array of cybersecurity and privacy issues, including incident response, ransomware, regulatory compliance, and risk mitigation.
Mr. Cruz also maintains an active pro bono practice, which has included federal civil rights litigation involving the First, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments, the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, as well as defending eviction proceedings and other housing disputes. In 2016, Mr. Cruz received the Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project’s Champion of Justice Award for his commitment to pro bono service. Mr. Cruz is a member of the board of directors of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, a nonprofit legal services organization that provides support, advocacy, and high quality civil legal representation to poor and low-income families and individuals in New York state. He also sits on the board of directors of White Plains Hospital and the Hudson River School of Music, as well as the board of advisors for the Dartmouth College Center for Social Impact. In 2020, the New York Law Journal named Mr. Cruz a “Rising Star,” a designation recognizing “the region’s most promising lawyers ages 40 and under.”
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Cruz served as a law clerk to the Honorable Eric N. Vitaliano of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 2011 to 2012, and prior to that practiced at a New York law firm. Mr. Cruz received his A.B., cum laude, from Dartmouth College, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served on the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.
Updated Aug 2023
