The recently departed head of the Legal Aid Society, Seymour James, has signed on as a partner with boutique criminal defense and civil rights firm Barket Epstein & Kearon, as part of an expansion that includes the addition of a top Suffolk County practitioner and a name change for the firm.

Now called Barket, Epstein, Kearon, Aldea & LoTurco, the firm also merged with criminal defense attorney John LoTurco’s firm, making him a partner. LoTurco, a former prosecutor in the county who recently was named the Suffolk County Bar Association’s practitioner of the year, is regarded as a top criminal defense attorney on the island.

John LoTurco. Courtesy photo