Patterson Belknap attorneys dedicate significant time to representing individuals within our criminal justice system, ensuring that they receive fair and fulsome representation. Through our work with the New York County Lawyers Association’s Parole Prep Project, Fordham Law School’s Parole Preparation Project, Appellate Advocates, Legal Aid, and the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender, we have represented many individuals in their appeals. We also represented the family of a deceased inmate in an influential case that resulted in systemic change at a prison, with the installation of comprehensive video and audio recording equipment throughout the facility to protect inmates from violence. A few highlights of recent representations are outlined below.
Patterson Belknap vacated our client’s conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm on the grounds that the police officer violated the client’s Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures. The New Jersey Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to suppress the firearm evidence created new Fourth Amendment law in the state and at the time was the first ruling on this issue in the country.
The firm and the Brennan Center for Justice submitted an amicus brief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on behalf of criminologists and law professors in a case weighing the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s mandatory sentence of life without parole for the crime of felony murder. For the first time since the State Constitution was enacted in 1790, the Court applied its version of the Eighth Amendment, holding that the penalty was unconstitutional cruel punishment. The Court’s opinion specifically cited the firm’s brief for “providing additional insight into the constitutionality of punishment for felony murder.”
Following a 2016 Consent Decree between the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the City of Newark, New Jersey, the firm was appointed to serve as the Independent Monitor of the Newark Police Department (“NPD”). The firm was tasked with overseeing its implementation and ensure that the NPD was timely in complying with its requirements. The Consent Decree was created in response to a 2014 DOJ report, which found that NPD officers engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. In the decade following the firm’s appointment, NPD saw notable progress to police training, including the use of de-escalation tactics, and a significant drop in Newark’s crime rate. The Consent Decree came to an end in late 2025.