Vaccaro brings vast experience home

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From prosecuting narcotics cases in Puerto Rico to white-collar crimes in Milwaukee, Daniel Vaccaro long has been a stand out in the courtroom.

The partner at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, who grew up in the Milwaukee area, spent nearly two decades away from his home state, first earning his law license at American University, Washington College of Law.

“At that time my interest was more focused on international issues and that was what I thought I wanted to do,” Vaccaro said. “A clinical program in criminal law my third year of law school is what really focused my interests more on criminal law issues.”

After earning his law degree in 1990, Vaccaro’s career took him from private practice in Maryland to Puerto Rico, where he served in San Juan as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. As a federal prosecutor, he dealt with organized crime, capital murder, international narcotics, money laundering, law enforcement corruption and other major felony cases.

“Home is home, and Milwaukee and Wisconsin are my home,” he said. “I definitely wanted to get back to Wisconsin, it took me 17 years of experience outside of the state to do so.”

His commitment to the area is made clear by his work with Centro Legal, a nonprofit legal services provider that supports more than 2,000 people in Milwaukee County each year. Vaccaro has been a member of the Centro Legal Board of Directors since 2006 and was elected the board’s president for 2013-14.

“Especially in the family law area,” he said, “you have a significant number of pro se litigants trying to deal with legal issues that may be some of the most important and prominent things that they’re doing within their life, things that affect their family … If we can reduce the number of folks that don’t have the benefit of a lawyer to go through the system and face those kinds of issues, we’re delighted to do so.”

At Michael Best, Vaccaro plays a key role on the firm’s government investigations, compliance and white-collar criminal defense team, representing defendants and witnesses at various stages of the criminal process. The cases differ significantly from his work in Puerto Rico, but he finds the work challenging and rewarding.

“I wanted to work on complex criminal litigation and criminal matters,” Vaccaro said. “The white-collar area presents those because there’s often a very sophisticated or complex statutory scheme or regulatory scheme that you have to immerse yourself into.”