Cravath’s London Office Moves to 100 Cheapside
Cravath’s Amicus Brief Helps Protect the Rights of NYPD Officers with Hearing Impairments
May 08, 2015
In February 2015, Cravath represented the Hearing Loss Association of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Veterans United for Truth and AARP in filing an amicus brief with the Southern District of New York in a case against the New York Police Department (“NYPD”) over a blanket policy that prohibited officers from using hearing aids. Pursuant to that policy, officers were dismissed from the force, regardless of their record and assignment. The suit, Phillips v. NYPD, No. 11‑cv‑6685, was brought by two former NYPD officers who sustained hearing losses in the line of duty and were then forced to retire. Cravath’s brief argued that the NYPD’s blanket ban on hearing aids was based on an outdated understanding of hearing aid technology, made the NYPD an outlier among other police departments and provided incentives for officers to hide and underreport their hearing difficulties—thus putting themselves and the public at risk. The brief had a positive impact: on March 9, 2015, the same day that a jury trial was scheduled to begin, the parties reached a landmark settlement that required the NYPD to review its hearing aid policy and reinstate the plaintiff who wished to return to service, Deputy Inspector Daniel Carione.
The Cravath team included partner Darin P. McAtee and associate Josef T. Ansorge.
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On February 13, 2024, the New York State Appellate Division, First Department, reversed the convictions of Tommy Davis, who was simultaneously prosecuted for two unrelated incidents involving firearms. Cravath represented Mr. Davis on a pro bono basis alongside co‑counsel at the Office of the Appellate Defender.
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Cravath’s Incarcerated Survivors Initiative Secures Release of Domestic Abuse Survivor
On November 28, 2023, the Queens County Criminal Court entered an order on consent resentencing pro bono client A.M. and securing her release. A.M. had been incarcerated since June 2010. She was originally sentenced in June 2011, pursuant to a plea agreement, to a 20‑year determinate sentence plus five years’ post‑release supervision for first‑degree manslaughter after her romantic partner, who had subjected her to severe domestic abuse, killed her former partner, who had sex trafficked her and also subjected her to severe domestic abuse.
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