NSBHF is known for securing some of the largest wrongful conviction verdicts and settlements in U.S. history. Civil wrongful convictions cases make up the majority of our practice, and we do it better than anyone. Our development of now widely acknowledged legal theories has led to multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements for the firm’s wrongful conviction clients and victims of other law enforcement abuse. We aggressively approach all litigation with an eye towards trial, and we have delivered a win at every trial taken to a jury for the last 15 years.

 

The reason behind our success is simple: We have been litigating complex civil rights cases in federal court and winning longer than any other firm. Starting in 1998, founding partners Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld (together with late partner Johnnie Cochran) began working to obtain redress for victims of police misconduct. Building on this knowledge, partners Nick Brustin, Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann, Emma Freudenberger and Amelia Green lead the nation’s premier civil rights litigation group today. Year after year, NSBHF has brought in record-setting wins across the country, as well as important policy changes arising from our work.

 

NSBHF’s core practice area is federal §1983 police misconduct litigation. The firm represents clients who have experienced racial discrimination and serious injury, including sexual assault at the hands of police and corrections officers, police shootings, and wrongful deaths in prisons and jails.

 

Other law firms frequently call upon NSBHF’s expertise. Firms seek us out for trial practice and strategic consultation, given our reputation for protecting large civil rights verdicts on appeal, securing groundbreaking legal decisions, and reviving important civil rights claims, such as in Mellen v. Winn, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.