Please describe two of your most substantial, recent wins in practice.
I was one of the lead counsels who represented Lionel Rubalcava, an innocent man who spent 17 years wrongfully incarcerated after he was framed by San Jose, California police officers for a drive-by shooting. This summer we won a $12 million settlement on Mr. Rubalcava’s behalf, the largest police misconduct settlement in the city’s history.
The litigation was hard-fought and against a municipality that had a history of failing to acknowledge misconduct in its police department. I’m most proud of the extensive factual record we developed in the case, including numerous depositions I took, which proved that officers had pressured witnesses and fabricated three separate false identifications of Mr. Rubalcava, causing his wrongful conviction.
In another recent win, I successfully represented three women who had been sexually abused by a correctional officer in Manhattan’s federal jail in obtaining a $1.18 million settlement against the United States. The case was particularly rewarding as we were able to hold the government directly accountable for a systemic issue—creating and permitting horrible conditions in the jail and thereby turning a blind eye to an officer who had a pattern of openly sexually abusing incarcerated women.
What is the most important lesson you learned as a first-year attorney and how does it inform your practice today?
The most important lesson I learned as a first-year attorney is the power of using document discovery to uncover evidence that can prove your case. Often the more junior lawyers on the team are tasked with sending document requests and reviewing document discovery—sometimes considered the least glamorous and most tedious litigation tasks. However, I learned early on that document discovery can prove to be a treasure trove for investigative leads and critical evidence.
One example is my work on the Anthony Wright case, one of the first cases I litigated at NSBHF. We were suing Philadelphia police officers who had framed Mr. Wright, causing Mr. Wright to spend 25 years wrongfully imprisoned until DNA evidence proved Mr. Wright’s innocence.
Early in the litigation we learned of similar allegations of misconduct that other incarcerated individuals had made against the same officers. We followed those leads in document discovery, and after poring over thousands of pages of document discovery from other investigations, we found striking similarities between the evidence we knew had been fabricated in Mr. Wright’s case and evidence used in criminal trials against other individuals who were still incarcerated.
That discovery not only helped us prove a pattern of police misconduct in the Philadelphia Police Department, but also helped lead to the exoneration of multiple other incarcerated individuals.
How do you define success in your practice?
In our practice, the classic definition of success is winning a big verdict or settlement. While I relish those accomplishments, I define success most by how the client feels about our representation.
Much of my practice focuses on representing clients who have spent many years—sometimes decades—wrongfully imprisoned as result of police misconduct. It goes without saying that these clients have had horrible past experiences with the legal system and suffered irreparable damage as a result.
My goal as a civil rights litigator is to give every client an overwhelmingly positive experience with the legal system. I work hard to make sure my clients feel empowered at every step of the litigation, feel control over how their personal story is told, and to know that they are valued and heard not just as a person who has suffered wrongdoing but as a human being.
In the end, I don’t answer to anyone but my clients, and they know it. Success for me is when my client is happy and feels like my representation of them has been the best legal representation they have ever had.
What are you most proud of as a lawyer?
I’m most proud of the cases where I have been able to use litigation skills to develop a strong factual record, turning a so-called “weak” case into a winning one. In civil rights litigation, even in cases where we have very good reason to believe the police violated our client’s rights, it is often very difficult to prove. It is common to hear that a case will be an uphill battle. But it is important not to get discouraged, as every step of the litigation is an opportunity to uncover the truth and develop your record.
One example is my representation of DeMarlo Berry, who received a $14.5 million settlement after we proved Las Vegas police detectives caused him to be wrongfully imprisoned for 22 years.
We got involved in Mr. Berry’s case after he was exonerated. The evidence of Mr. Berry’s innocence was clear. But while we knew something had gone afoul in the underlying police investigation, the evidence of precisely what had happened was less developed.
We pounded the pavement through investigation to contact and take the depositions of eyewitnesses, many of whom were spread across the country and hadn’t been contacted since the original trial in the 1990s. Multiple eyewitnesses revealed for the first time in the civil rights litigation that police had pressured them to wrongfully identify Mr. Berry.
Who is your greatest mentor in the law and what have they taught you?
The greatest lawyers learn from those ahead of them, and in my case that is Judge Andrew Wynn of the Fourth Circuit, whom I clerked for in 2016. I’ve learned so much from Judge Wynn, but what he has taught me most is the importance of collaboration and mentorship in the legal profession.
As the first attorney in my family, having a role model like Judge Wynn was invaluable. The legal profession is not a go-it-alone profession, and during my clerkship I was amazed and grateful for the time and energy Judge Wynn took to explain things, to share experiences, and to encourage not just me, but all the clerks and interns working in his chambers, past and present. Clerking for Judge Wynn was my first job out of law school, and he let me know that what I wanted to achieve was not beyond my reach.
On top of that I learned so much from the important precedential cases I worked on with him during my clerkship. Now that I am in a position to mentor more junior lawyers and paralegals at my firm, I try and model those qualities I learned from Judge Wynn.
Tell us your two favorite songs on your summer music playlist.
“September” by Earth, Wind & Fire is a permanent favorite, while “Love Me JeJe” by Tems is a new addition. Feel good music perfect for a summer park or beach day in Brooklyn.
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