Cynthia Conti-Cook, Esq.
Cynthia Conti-Cook, Esq., recently received the Michele S. Maxian Award for Outstanding Public Defense Practitioner. The award was presented by Seymour W. James, Jr., Esq.
Cynthia Conti-Cook is a staff attorney at New York City’s Legal Aid Society, Special Litigation Unit of the Criminal Defense Practice, where she oversees the Cop Accountability Project and Database. She has presented the database at national defender conferences and consulted with defenders across the country to help them set up similar databases.
Also in pursuit of greater police accountability and transparency, she filed a petition, which was granted, demanding that the Civilian Complaint Review Board disclose the number of substantiated community complaints, along with any resulting discipline for Officer Daniel Pantaleo (the officer whose chokehold killed Eric Garner).
Shortly thereafter, she assisted a criminal defense practitioner from the Legal Aid Society’s Queens office to make the same petition for an officer who accused one of his clients of assault, which they also won. The Civilian Complaint Review Board, represented by the NYC Law Department, has appealed both cases.
She is also involved in several large impact litigation projects, including the injunction to stop the Department of Corrections from filming inside of attorney-client arraignment interview booths.
In October 2015, she won a new parole hearing in the Third Department for a man who has been denied parole based on the severity of the crime for the past 16 years.
Cynthia also works closely with the Legal Aid society’s incredibly talented staff attorneys doing research, writing and brainstorming at all stages of their criminal cases.
Prior to joining Legal Aid, Cynthia was a civil rights litigator for seven years at a small Brooklyn firm, Stoll, Glickman & Bellina, LLP, where she brought more than 100 civil rights law suites against police and correction officers. She is a graduate of CUNY School of Law and Bard College.
