BURRIS NISENBAUM CURRY & LACY - Key Persons
A BART police officer shot and killed Sahleem Tindle. The officer was responding to the sound of gunshots and saw two men on a sidewalk near a BART station struggle over a handgun. The officer ordered the two men to show their hands. Mr. Tindle attempted to comply but was shot by the officer. The officer falsely claimed he saw Mr. Tindle try to stand and turn to shoot him. The officer's body cam, however, showed that Mr. Tindle remained on his knees with both hands raised, although one hand was held by the other man involved in the struggle. The body cam also showed that the gun was on the ground. A jury returned a $6 million verdict for violation of the 4 th Amendment for using excessive force. The Ninth Circuit upheld the verdict.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Partner
- Education
- Lawyer
Ayana Curry was born and raised in Oakland, CA and first served as a student intern to the Law Offices of John L. Burris when she was in high school. She then returned to the office in 2000 as a lawyer where her primary role was serving as junior counsel on the infamous Oakland Riders case and managing the firm's 119 clients.
Ayana went on to serve as Deputy Attorney General for the California Office of the Attorney General, Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Appeals, Writs & Trials Division, where she discovered her deep interest in legal research and writing and affinity for appellate practice. Ayana, then, served as Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney in the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, in Atlanta, Georgia, in the Appellate Division handling all manner of criminal appeals, writs, post-verdict motions, and specialized law and motion work.
Ayana rejoined the Law Offices of John L. Burris in 2009 and handled all of the firms appellate matters and significant law and motion work. In 2014, Curry served as the briefing attorney in Sheehan v. City and County of San Francisco to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the secured the protections of the ADA to arrests. And she was a member of the team that litigated the case in the United States Supreme Court.
Curry has focused on appellate practice for over 20 years, handling a wide range of civil rights matters in both the federal and state courts, and working on cases involving police misconduct, employment law, race and gender-based discrimination, civil procedure, evidentiary matters, and bankruptcy. Ayana's appellate work has resulted in numerous published opinions, in the United States Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, California and Georgia Courts of Appeals.
Ayana Curry, however, is more than a respected civil rights and appellate lawyer. She is a mentor. Whenever she has a spare minute, she can be found working with and guiding new law clerks. Of particular interest is teaching law clerks skills to write creative, well-supported, and well-argued claims and complaints as these are the backbone to any successful case.
Through appellate advocacy, Ms. Curry has solidified her commitment to social justice and advocating for underrepresented communities and has secured excellent results for her clients.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Partner
- Education
- Lawyer
Ben Nisenbaum joined Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy as a law clerk in 2001 when it was the Law Offices of John L. Burris. Committed to the work he started there, Ben rejoined in 2002 as a lawyer ready to fight on behalf of his clients. Over the years, he has become highly regarded as a civil rights and criminal defense lawyer.
Ben has represented his clients' interests all the way up to the United States Supreme Court. Notably, he appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court for oral arguments in the case of Sheehan v. City of San Francisco. He has also argued successfully numerous cases at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal, resulting in several published 9th Circuit opinions upholding favorable District Court rulings, as well as overturning unfavorable district opinions.
Ben Nisenbaum exemplifies what it means to represent cases with persistence and integrity. As lead counsel, he takes on complex cases where the stakes are high. His cases have included a range of issues relevant to civil rights, police misconduct, and more. In a recent excessive force wrongful death case, the jury returned a $6 million verdict in favor of Nisenbaum's client. This is one of many multi-million dollar verdicts Mr. Nisenbaum has achieved for his clients, with the highest verdict so far coming in 2015 in a civil rights police excessive force case of $11.3 million (fully upheld in a published 9th Circuit opinion). The dollar value of a verdict, however, is not what matters; what matters is that a verdict upholds his clients' rights.
Prior to law school, Nisenbaum was a Counselor for the Lincoln Child Center, Counselor for Youth Homes, Inc. He was also a research assistant for Foxtree Language Psychology Lab, UC-Santa Cruz. These experiences, combined with his undergraduate degree in Psychology, have informed his law practice at Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy. Nisenbaum is able to use his academic knowledge of experimental methodology and Applied Cognitive Psychology ("Human Factors") when defendants offer unfounded expert opinions in these areas. His determination to the get to the core of why police violate people's rights, and demonstrating the effect on people's lives caused by those violations underlines the compassion he has for his clients and the passion he has for defending our civil rights and liberties.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Education
- Lawyer
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Education
- Lawyer
Christopher A. Dean joined Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy as an attorney at the end of 2021. Previously, he clerked for the Law Offices of John L. Burris in 2020, at which time he exhibited great passion for the law and unparalleled perseverance. He is committed to pursuing justice and helping our clients receive the compensation and remedies they deserve when their rights have been violated or have otherwise been wrongfully harmed.
Christopher chooses to use the law as a tool to empower, build, and protect the people that make up our communities in California and beyond. As an active member of the community and prior to joining BNCL, Christopher worked, interned, and volunteered on and for numerous causes, like poverty alleviation and juvenile criminal justice. His mission in life aligns well with our vision at Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy.
Working out of our Oakland office, Christopher is ready to help his colleagues and clients throughout the greater metropolitan area.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Partner
- Education
- Lawyer
DeWitt M. Lacy joined Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy in 2011, and has been successfully and diligently spearheading the litigation team in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California. As he fights to uphold civil rights and cure injustices, his work brings attention to police misconduct and other abuses and neglect brought on by state, city, and local agencies. Where harm or wrongful death has resulted from the action or inaction of public actors or agencies, Mr. Lacy does not rest until he secures the best possible outcome for his clients.
As testament to his capabilities, he secured a verdict of $1,766,875.95 for clients who were the subject of police misconduct in the City of Santa Clara. Mr. Lacy's litigation skills are matched by his negotiation skills. In three other significant police misconduct cases, he negotiated three settlements in our clients' favor: $3,000,000 from the City of Torrance, $1,600,000 from the City of Antioch, and $950,000 from the County of Alameda. Money, however, is not the objective. Justice is the aim. As part of this mission and complementary to his legal practice, Mr. Lacy informs the public on all matters related to the law and their rights. He founded Good and Common, an initiative that helps inform and educate the public on their civil liberties and civil rights. He also regularly engages the media with smart commentary and debate on the law relevant to current legal issues.
Before joining Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy, Mr. Lacy founded The Law Office of DeWitt M. Lacy. He also gained relevant legal experience as an attorney at The Farrise Law Firm, was a candidate for the San Francisco District 10 Supervisor role (November 2010), and was a legal analyst for Bloomberg. The combination of these professional experiences laid the groundwork for the legal prowess he exhibits each day at Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy, where he works hard to secure justice for his clients and help promote a better, more inclusive community.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Counsel
- Education
- Lawyer
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Partner
- Founder & Lead Attorney
- Professionals
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Education
- Lawyer
Julia N. Quesada joined Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy in 2021 as an attorney, but she initially started as a Summer Law Clerk in 2017 at the Law Offices of John L. Burris. She returned to the Law Offices of John L. Burris the following summer, 2018, to rekindle her Summer Law Clerk position. She brought energy and a fresh perspective to the law office.
During Julia's final year at Loyola Law School, she gained invaluable experience. She was a Certified Law Student at the Juvenile Justice Clinic, an initiative of the Center for Juvenile Law and Policy at Loyola Law School. She also externed at ACLU of Southern California, assisting ACLU lawyers demand justice and uphold civil rights. Equipped with this experience, she returned to the Law Offices of John L. Burris in 2019 to work full-time as a Law Clerk.
In 2021, Julia joined Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry, and Lacy LLP as an Associate Attorney. She works out of our Southern California office where she specializes in civil rights litigation. Although she works primarily in Southern California, she represents clients and communities throughout the state. She is driven by a desire to make real, positive change. She wants to be a voice for those who have been temporarily silenced. Julia Quesada uses her law degree, experience, and skill to make the wheels of justice turn a little faster and a little fairer, one case at a time.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Education
- Lawyer
K. Chike Odiwe started his legal career at the Law Offices of John L. Burris in 2017 and has continued to work with civil rights attorney John L. Burris and other partners as they joined forces to form Burris Nisenbaum Curry & Lacy, LLP in 2022. Chike brings to BNCL a strong desire to excel and to advance our mission upholding equal rights and equal treatment for all.
Chike's performance in law school is testimony to his hard work ethic and his skill to take on challenges with a refreshing zest to win. He received a CALI Award for Academic Excellence in Avanced Torts and was a finalist in the Appellate Advocacy Competition. He was also a member of the Moot Court Board while maintaining the Dean's List and specializing in litigation. Chike's excellence in law school has carried over into his legal career.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Education
- Lawyer
Lena Andrews brings a fresh voice to Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy. In 2020, she joined as a law clerk. Her values and prior experience aligned well with our mission and culture. It seemed only natural that she rejoined our legal team in 2021 as a full-time attorney. Though Lena Andrews' passion for law flourished at Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy while she was a law clerk, it is not where her story began. She had already been actively pursuing matters involving criminal justice and civil rights in Colorado.
Prior to law school, Lena worked as a paralegal for a civil rights law firm in Denver, Colorado. In part, that experience cultivated the decision to obtain a law degree. During law school, she clerked with the Colorado Office of the Public Defender Complex Crimes Unit. There, she immersed herself in several important cases not to mention Colorado's last death penalty case, People v. Dreion Dearing -- the death penalty was repealed in March 2020 in Colorado.
In the last part of law school, Lena continued to expand her first-hand experience in the criminal justice system. She clerked at Korey Wise Innocence Project, an independent nonprofit that aims to free wrongfully convicted people, prevent wrongful convictions, and create systems of justice that are fairer and more compassionate for everyone. Lena was also a Law Student Municipal Public Defender for Boulder, Colorado through the University of Colorado Law School Criminal Defense Clinic.
Theresa Sheehan v. City and County of San Francisco, 743 F.3d 1211, 1232 (9th Cir. 2014), rev'd in part, cert. dismissed in part sub nom. City and County of San Francisco, California, et al. v. Sheehan, 575 U.S. 600, 135 S. Ct. 1765, 191 L. Ed. 2d 856 (2015)
The Ninth Circuit overturned grant of summary judgment in a civil rights and ADA case against San Francisco and two of its police officers. The officers shot and disabled Ms. Sheehan in her own group home apartment while they were effecting a 5150. Ms. Sheehan suffers from a schizoaffective disorder. The Ninth Circuit found: (1) ADA applied, and a jury could have found the Defendants violated the ADA when they failed to consider her disability when responding; and (2) Defendants were not entitled to Qualified Immunity because they disregarded her known mental impairment and disability in responding to her. Defendants appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which held arguments on the case. The Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit on Qualified Immunity but kept the Ninth Circuit's novel ruling that the ADA applied, finding cert was improvidently granted.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Education
- Legal Assistant / Paralegal
Xiomara M. Serrano joined Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy in 2021 as a legal assistant/paralegal. As a Political Science and Spanish dual major from University of California at Riverside, Serrano is an integral part of the staff. Her Spanish skills benefit clients and her background in political science informs her work and the legal support she provides in civil rights law.
Prior to joining Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy, Xiomara was a legal assistant at ME Lawyers, a personal injury firm. She also developed an interest in public service while working on two campaigns in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. In 2019, she interned for Ronaldo Fierro's Campaign for Riverside City Council Ward and, in 2018, interned for Karen Spiegel's campaign for Riverside County Supervisor in 2018--both of whom ran on platforms to improve their communities.
Xiomara Serrano enjoys helping others through service and the law. She is considering law school in the near future, but in the meantime will continue to support the legal team at Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy and our valued clients.