Deputy Division Chief - Special Federal Litigation Division
New York City Law Department
New York, Ny
Defend the City of New York and its municipal employees in federal court in high profile individual and class actions brought under 42 U.S.C. §1983 alleging constitutional and state law violations. Extensive experience in all aspects of litigation including discovery, motion practice, and trials. Coordinate with various agencies. Supervisory responsibilities include overseeing a staff of 100+ attorneys and decision-making responsibility for hundreds of case dispositions per year. Responsibilities also include evaluations, staffing and hiring. Notable cases: Handschu v. City of New York and Raza v. City of New York : Lead attorney defending City against claims of religious profiling in investigations of potential terrorism. Handschu, 241 F.3d 433 (S.D.N.Y. 2017). Republican National Convention Litigation: Lead attorney and supervisor of a team of fifteen attorneys and paralegals representing the Police Department in over 100 cases with six hundred individual plaintiffs plus a certified class action. Granted summary judgment upholding significant NYPD policy under strict scrutiny analysis. 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141851. Established leading favorable precedent on the law enforcement privilege, In re City of New York, 607 F.3d 923 (2d Cir. 2010). Negotiated $18 million settlement.MacWade v. City of New York: Prevailed at bench trial upholding New York City policy adopting subway bag search program. 2005 U.S. Dist LEXIS 31281 (S.D.N.Y. 2005) aff’d 460 F.3d 260 (2d Cir. 2006).Uzoukwu v. City of New York: Lead trial attorney in successful defense verdicts in 2 multi-day trials. 10 Civ. 4960 (RA) (S.D.N.Y. 2013) (S.D.N.Y. 2016). Conducted cross examination of plaintiff and medical experts, direct examinations, and closing argument.Abdell v. City of New York: Lead trial attorney on a five day multi-plaintiff jury damages trial. 05 Civ. 8453 (S.D.N.Y. 2014).
