Our Founder & Chief Attorney
Art Nieto grew up in the courtroom. From a young age, he watched his father, a capital
defense lawyer, represent individuals charged with the most heinous and serious crimes in the system. He learned at an early age that everyone, even society’s most villainized and marginalized, deserves vigorous representation. Art Nieto graduated from University of New Mexico Law School in 2000 and began his career as a criminal defense lawyer immediately at the New Mexico Public Defender Department as a felony defender in northern New Mexico. He began trying serious violent offenses almost as soon as he passed the bar. He opened Nieto Law Office in 2003 in Albuquerque and has maintained an extensive practice in Albuquerque, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
History of Nieto Law
Nieto Law Office has always been a one-man shop. Art Nieto believes that he is able to provide the most hands-on, personalized representation by focusing on direct representation. His business is the practice of law, not the practice of having a large law firm with huge overhead and many employees. The Nieto Law Office has a small dedicated staff and a reasonably-sized and well cared-for caseload. We take care of our clients in what is often their greatest time of need.
The Nieto Law Office specializes in criminal defense and plaintiff-side civil litigation. Art Nieto has tried criminal cases in nearly every district in New Mexico as well as in the United States District Court in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma. He has tried nearly one hundred cases to juries and to judges in cases ranging from DWI to first degree murder. To Art Nieto, the courtroom is home. His trial experience has made him a keen litigator. Art Nieto has seen the indifference and inhumanity routinely practiced by State and federal prosecutors. He has fearlessly stood up to these practices in the courtroom to defend his client’s rights and interests.
In addition to his extensive criminal practice, Art Nieto is proud to represent plaintiff-victims in civil cases. His representation in the civil world ranges from complex state and federal civil rights cases, to liquor liability (Dram Shop) cases, to negligent security cases, to car crash personal injury cases. He represents individuals in insurance bad faith situations and has extensive experience in death from police shooting, death from police misconduct, and catastrophic injury and death from private individual violence.