Tom Porto

Tom Porto began his legal career as a Missouri State Public Defender, standing beside clients the system had already written off and sharpening his trial instincts against institutions that expected to win. That formative experience gave him something most civil litigators never acquire: a deep, insider understanding of how law enforcement operates, what it takes to defeat qualified immunity defenses, and why ordinary people rarely receive a fair fight when police are on the other side.

Today, Porto is one of Kansas City's most recognized police accountability attorneys. He has secured a $10 million jury verdict in a police shooting that killed a man and injured a pregnant woman, negotiated a $5 million settlement for the family of Terrence Bridges — killed by a Kansas City Police officer — and has recovered numerous confidential six- and seven-figure results for families devastated by in-custody deaths, excessive force, and civil rights violations. His cases have drawn national media attention, including coverage in the New York Times, USA Today, and ABC's Good Morning America.

Porto is drawn specifically to cases involving a disproportion of power — families and individuals who have faced oppressive systems before, often for a long time, and who don't expect anyone with authority to take them seriously. He approaches those cases as both a legal and moral obligation. He is a member of the National Police Accountability Project and has filed suits against municipal police departments across Missouri and Kansas, including KCPD, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, and the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department.

Beyond the courtroom, Porto was elected to the Missouri Bar Board of Governors in 2018 and to the 16th Circuit Judicial Commission in 2024. He chairs Kansas City's Planned Industrial Expansion Authority and serves on the Tax Increment Finance Commission. He was honored with the prestigious Lon O. Hocker Award in 2017 — given annually to one Kansas City trial attorney under 40 for demonstrated balance between zealousness and honor — and has been named to Super Lawyers in Missouri and Kansas every year since 2019.