David M. Hazan

David Hazan is a partner at the law firm of Jacobs & Hazan, PLLC.  He concentrates his practice on civil rights litigation and criminal defense litigation. Specifically, he focuses on protecting the constitutional rights of individuals that were subject to police misconduct and prisoners that were subject to constitutional violations while they were incarcerated.  Mr.  Hazan also represents individuals who are accused of criminal misconduct in all phases of their criminal proceedings, from arraignment to trial.  In addition to civil rights litigation and criminal defense litigation, Mr. Hazan is active in the practice of Constitutional Law, Children’s Rights, Class Actions, and Free Speech/ First Amendment Litigation.

Mr. Hazan spent six years of his career as a dedicated public servant at the New York City Office of the Corporation Counsel in the Special Federal Litigation Division, where he was responsible for litigating complex civil rights cases and supervising and training younger attorneys.  During those years, Mr. Hazan specialized in defending the City of New York, New York City Police Officers, New York City Corrections Officers, and other agents of the City of New York against lawsuits brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that individual’s Constitutional rights were violated.  These claims included, but were not limited to claims brought pursuant to the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.  Such claims included false arrest, malicious prosecution, excessive force, and deliberate indifference to medical needs.  Furthermore, Mr. Hazan successfully represented the New York City Police Department and the City of New York in several high profile class action lawsuits, wherein plaintiffs claimed that the New York City Police Department had an actual policy and practice of violating individuals’ Constitutional Rights.

Mr. Hazan acted as lead counsel on several high profile lawsuits, wherein plaintiffs alleged that employees of the City of New York violated their Constitutional Rights.  In one such case, MacWade, et al. v. Kelly, et al., 05 Civ. 6921 (RMB) (FM), Mr. Hazan successfully obtained a defense verdict, wherein the Court found that it was Constitutional for the City of New York to conduct random searches of passengers bags and/or containers’ who were entering the New York City subway system.  Mr. Hazan also successfully defended police officers in two shooting cases, Estate of MelvinSylvester, et al. v. City of New York, et al., 03 Civ. 08760 (FM) and Estate of Sean Bell, et al., 07 Civ. 02994 (RLM), where the police officers were accused of using excessive force when they shot and killed a civilian.  Furthermore Mr. Hazan served as lead counsel for defendants in class actions, where plaintiffs alleged that defendant City of New York and the NYPD had an unconstitutional policy and practice of stopping, questioning, and frisking individuals based upon their race rather than reasonable suspicion, Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al., 08 Civ. 01034 (SAS); and where plaintiffs alleged that defendant City of New York and the NYPD had an unconstitutional policy and practice of stopping individuals without reasonable suspicion in New York City Public Housing and arresting those individuals without probable cause for allegedly trespassing into those building, Davis, et al. v. City of New York, et. al., 10 Civ. 699 (SAS).

Mr. Hazan now vigorously and aggressively protects the rights of individuals and the public at large from the violation of their civil rights, including police brutality and prisoner abuse.   To that end, Mr. Hazan’s firm focuses on all phases of litigation in both criminal cases and civil rights cases.  Mr. Hazan’s unique background of having represented citizens, as well as police officers and correction officers, has provided him with the necessary perspective and understanding that only comes from representing clients with a variety of perspectives.

Mr. Hazan is a member of the New York State bar and is admitted to practice in the Southern, Eastern, and Northern Districts of New York.  Mr. Hazan received his undergraduate degree from Emory University and received his Juris Doctorate from Northwestern University Law School.