Devereaux Cannick is a principal member of the firm and a trial attorney. His practice includes Federal and State criminal defense criminal law as well as civil litigation and education law.
Mr. Cannick is licensed to practice in all courts in the State of New York. He is admitted to the federal district courts for the Eastern, Southern and Northern Districts of New York, United States Court of Appeals for the Second and Fourth Circuits and the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Cannick was formerly with the Bronx County District Attorney Office where for several years, he managed a full range of criminal matters from misdemeanors to major felonies. Mr. Cannick had departmental responsibility for managing a group of Assistant District Attorneys assigned to homicide duty and was lead counsel on a number of high profile criminal cases, one of which led to him being profiled in the New York Law Journal.
In 1990, while working in the Homicide Trial Bureau of the Bronx County District Attorney's Office, Mr. Cannick was selected as the lead prosecutor in one of the most publicized cases in the Bronx,
People of the State of New York v. Larry Davis. Mr. Davis was charged with multiple homicides and had been involved in the attempted murder of numerous police officers. After Larry Davis was acquitted in his earlier trials, the District Attorney of Bronx County, Robert Johnson turned to one of his premier trial assistants, Devereaux Cannick to prosecute Larry Davis.
After a trial of several months, Larry Davis was convicted on all counts. Prominent attorneys throughout the City of New York credited Mr. Cannick and his savvy trial skills as providing the difference in the results between the earlier trials. Mr. Cannick was subsequently featured on the first page of the New York Law Journal dated March 18th, 1991, and widely credited with the resulting conviction.
Mr. Cannick has an extensive criminal law practice. He appears daily in the federal and state courts. He has been involved in many high profile cases throughout his career. Some of his clients have included Lamar Sanchez, the first person to be charged under the then new New York State capital punishment law with capital murder; Daniel Berrios, of the infamous Latin King gang, Dr. Rafil Dhafir, a Rome oncologist charged for violating IEEPA laws.
In one particular case, Mr. Cannick represented an individual by the name of Michael Mungin. Mr. Mungin was charged as a hit man for drug dealers. The indictment alleged that he executed eight individuals. After his mitigation presentation to the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and subsequently to the then Attorney General, Janet Reno, the Justice Department decided not to seek the death penalty against Mr. Mungin. It was Mr. Cannick's skills and determination that convinced the Justice Department not to pursue the death penalty in Mr. Mungin's case.
Mr. Cannick has developed a masterful court room demeanor. He is a dynamic cross examiner and has an uncanny ability to connect with jurors. As a result of his expert trial skills, he has been retained to represent clients in many states throughout the country. Also, Mr. Cannick has been retained by other law firms to assist them in trials and complex litigations.
In the last few years, Mr. Cannick expanded his litigation practice to include civil rights and 1983 constitutional claims. In one of his first civil trials, a 1983 civil rights action against the City of New York involving a claim of police brutality, Mr. Cannick successfully litigated the case and secured a 3.2 million dollar jury award for his client, the largest verdict awarded for the type of injury involved. The case was reported on television and in the newspapers.
Mr. Cannick was later selected to represent Saikou Diallo, the father of Amadou Diallo who was shot 41 times by four police officers on February 4th, 1999. This case polarized the entire City of New York. Bruce Springsteen wrote a song in memory of Amadou Diallo. Although the four police officers were ultimately acquitted of all criminal charges, Mr. Cannick successfully sued the City of New York and received the largest wrongful death settlement award against the City of New York for that type of case. He also had the distinction of working with the legendary Johnny Cochran who represented Amadou Diallo's mother.
Mr. Cannick's education law background includes experience as General Counsel to the Mount Vernon City Public School District where he provides day-to-day advice and counsel to the District in all areas of education law including contract drafting and negotiations, labor negotiations and the development and implementation of compliance programs. In addition to his role as General Counsel, Mr. Cannick directly handles litigation matters for the District. He also negotiates their employment contracts, collective bargaining agreements as well as litigates employee disciplinary matters. In addition, he handles Special Education Impartial hearings and related litigations.
Mr. Cannick travels across the country to keep abreast of the latest developments in the law and has been invited to lecture at many seminars. He too has been qualified as an expert criminal trial attorney and one of the few selected to represent defendants charged with capital murder in the State and Federal Courts. He has appeared as a regular guest commenter on Court TV and Fox 5 News as well as being interviewed on television and radio for some of his many high profile cases.
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