Katie McCarthy / Associate

Katie McCarthy is an Associate at Neufeld Scheck & Brustin. Her civil rights practice focuses on § 1983 wrongful conviction, police misconduct, and police brutality cases. Since joining NSB, Katie has helped win significant victories for her clients and has been recognized as a New York Super Lawyers “Rising Star.”

For example, Katie was an integral part of the NSB team that secured a record-breaking $21-million settlement on behalf of client Craig Coley, who spent over 39 years in prison. Katie also helped secure nearly $2 million from the California Victim’s Compensation Board on behalf of Mr. Coley—the largest payment ever made under the state’s wrongful conviction statute. Along with partner Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann, Katie protected a $36 million jury verdict for NSB clients John Restivo and Dennis Halstead by drafting the opposition to Nassau County’s petition for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court denied review, Nassau County was required to pay the judgment in full.

Katie has appeared and argued in district courts across the country. In 2019, she successfully briefed and argued an appeal in the Third Circuit on behalf of NSB client Jim Fogle. The Third Circuit in a precedential opinion rejected defendant prosecutors’ absolute immunity argument, allowing the case against them to proceed to discovery. Katie is also a core part of the team challenging the Rochester Police Department’s excessive use of force against City residents in a class action filed in the wake of the RPD’s violent response to protesters demonstrating after Daniel Prude was killed by RPD officers in March 2020.

Katie is an active member of the National Police Accountability Project, contributing on several issues including creating resources to raise awareness around absolute prosecutorial immunity and civil asset forfeiture.  Katie is also a member of the NYCLA Civil Rights & Liberties Committee and the ABA Civil Rights and Social Justice group. She has published an article examining the benefits and drawbacks of police body-worn cameras and provided commentary on the issue for media outlets including NPR.

Katie received her J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she was an Executive Editor on the Harvard Law Review, a finalist and oralist in the Ames Moot Court Competition, and a student attorney in the Criminal Justice Institute. During law school, she interned at the Capital Appeals Project in New Orleans, LA, and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, in Washington, D.C. She also served on the Executive Board of Harvard’s Prison Legal Assistance Project. After graduation, she clerked for The Hon. Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and The Hon. Jesse M. Furman of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.