Richard D Emery

Mr. Emery was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to serve as Chair of the CCRB on July 17, 2014. Mr. Emery is a founding partner of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP. His practice focuses on commercial litigation, civil rights, election law and litigation challenging governmental actions. Mr. Emery enjoys a national reputation as a litigator, trying and handling cases at all levels, from the U.S. Supreme Court to federal and state appellate and trial courts in New York, Washington, D.C., California, Washington state, and others. While a partner at Lankenau Kovner & Bickford, he successfully challenged the structure of the New York City Board of Estimate under the one-person, one-vote doctrine, resulting in the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous invalidation of the Board on constitutional grounds. Before then, he was a staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union and director of the Institutional Legal Services Project in Washington state, which represented persons held in juvenile, prison, and mental health facilities. He was also a law clerk for the Honorable Gus J. Solomon of the U.S. District Court for the district of Washington. He has taught as an adjunct at the New York University and University of Washington schools of law. Mr. Emery was a member of Governor Mario Cuomo's Commission on Government Integrity, created under the Moreland Act, and served on the New York State Commissions on Judicial Conduct and Public Integrity. He is a founding member of the City Club, which addresses New York City preservation issues. Mr. Emery is a founder and president of the West End Preservation Society, which has achieved the landmarked West End-Riverside Historic District. His honors include Landmark West's 2013 Unsung Heroes Award for his preservation work; the 2008 Children’s Rights Champion Award for his civil rights work and support of children's rights; the Common Cause/NY, October 2000, "I Love an Ethical New York" Award for recognition of successful challenges to New York's unconstitutionally burdensome ballot access laws and overall work to promote a more open democracy; the Park River Democrats Public Service Award, June 1989; and the David S. Michaels Memorial Award, January 1987, for Courageous Effort in Promotion of Integrity in the Criminal Justice System from the Criminal Justice Section of the New York State Bar Association. J.D. 1970, Columbia University School of Law, cum laude, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar; B.A., 1967, Brown University