Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP, Attorneys at Law
Vera M. Scanlon
Vera M. Scanlon became a partner of the firm in 2006. Her area of practice is civil litigation with a focus on employment, civil rights and contract law. She has litigated cases involving constitutional, federal and state constitutional, statutory and commercial claims on behalf of individuals and small businesses. She practices in both federal and state courts, at both trial and appellate levels.
Before attending Yale Law School, Vera served as a volunteer with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Louisiana for a year. At Yale, she was the managing editor, then co-editor-in-chief, of the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities. She was an associate at Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP from 1995 to 1998. Prior to coming to the firm, she clerked for the Hon. Daniel R. Dominguez, District of Puerto Rico (1998); the Hon. Frederic Block, Eastern District of New York (1998-2000); and the Hon. Robert A. Katzmann, Second Circuit Court of Appeals (2000-2001).
Practice Areas
Education
Columbia College (A.B. Summa Cum Laude 1990), Phi Beta Kappa, Robert L. Carey Award for Leadership and Academic Excellence
Yale Law School (J.D. 1995), Co-Editor-in-Chief, The Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities
Bar Admissions
Admitted to bar, 1995, District of New Jersey; 1996, New York, U.S. District Courts, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; 2004, U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York; 2005, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Professional Activities
Member, The Association of the Bar of the City of New York (Member, Special Committee to Encourage Judicial Service (2001-present); Monday Night Law (1998-2005)
Board Member, New York Civil Liberties Union (2008- )
Recent Publications
"Patient Care, Peer Review and the First Amendment," New York Law Journal, March 10, 2006
Representative Cases
In re Nassau County Strip Search Cases, 99-CV-2844 (DRH), 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99812 (E.D.N.Y. Sep't 22, 2010) (successful bench trial award of damages for strip search injuries suffered by class members). The Court decision is available here [PDF].
In re Nassau County Strip Search Cases, 99-CV-2844 (DRH), 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99783 (E.D.N.Y. Sep't 22, 2010) (successfully oppose application of the Prisoner Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) to limit scope of strip search class). The Court decision is available here [PDF].
Castro v. City of New York, 06 Civ. 2253 (E.D.N.Y.) (verdict against the NYC Department of Sanitation for unlawfully refusing to hire plaintiff in retaliation for his having been a named plaintiff in a successful discrimination class action against the NYPD that was upheld on appeal to the Second Circuit)
Morgan v. The County of Nassau, 09-cv-4168, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66156 (E.D.N.Y. July 1, 2010) (successfully defend motion to dismiss complaint of protestor injured and unlawfully arrested by police during demonstration outside of national presidential debate)
New Son Yeng Produce, LLC v. A&S Produce, Inc., 07-CV-4292 (KAM), U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73564 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 19, 2009) (successfully move for transfer of venue to Central District of California)
People v. Zephyrin, 52 A.D.3d. 543 (2nd Dep't 2008) (successful appeal reversing criminal conviction as "against the weight of the evidence")
In re Nassau County Strip Search Cases, 2008 WL 850268 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 27, 2008) (certifying damages class of thousands victimized by unconstitutional blanket strip search policy of the Nassau County Correctional Center)
Schiller v. City of New York, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88854 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 7, 2006) (successfully limit scope of third-party subpoena to protect release of First-Amendment-protected communications and membership list of the War Resisters League)
In re Nassau Country Strip Search Cases, 461 F.3d 219 (2d Cir. 2006) (successful appeal ordering certification for liability of class of thousands of victims of unconstitutional strip searches)
Howard v. Sprint/United Mgmt. Co., 299 F. Supp. 180 (S.D.N.Y. 2003) (defeating summary judgment in sexual harassment retaliation case)
439 East 88th Owners Corp. v. Tax Comm'n of the City of New York, 307 A.D.2d 203, 763 N.Y.S.2d 12 (1st Dep't 2003) (affirming decision declaring a New York City tax policy unlawful)
