HE is sometimes called the Thurgood Marshall of Long Island. Like the man who successfully argued the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case and later joined the Supreme Court, Frederick K. Brewington is a soft-spoken lawyer and a seemingly tireless champion of civil rights. Working out of an unassuming office in downtown Hempstead, Mr. Brewington argued for 12 years that the Town of Hempsteads system of electing town board members at large discriminated against blacks, finally winning a ruling in 2000 that forced the town to hold district elections. Today, the lions share of his work -- his office has six lawyers and handles about 200 cases a year -- involves alleged civil rights violations, police misconduct or employment discrimination. Perhaps less flatteringly, Mr. Brewington also is sometimes called the Johnnie Cochran of Long Island. Like the defense lawyer best known for his work in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Mr. Brewington has a habit of landing in the media spotlight. In 2000 he latched onto the racially motivated beatings of two day laborers living in Farmingville, a case that brought international attention to Suffolk County, but last year he was unsuccessful in his argument that the Sachem Quality of Life Organization, an anti-immigration group, was partly responsible for the beatings because it had inflamed local hostilities. More recently, Mr. Brewington called a news conference to charge that the heavy police response to a disturbance at a baby shower in Roslyn Heights last month was excessive and racist. Mr. Brewington said that about 70 police officers descended on the community like it was some type of ghetto, and he demanded that criminal charges against five men at the shower be dismissed. That case is still pending. He represents a side of our community that ordinarily wouldnt have representation, said Roger Corbin, a Democratic county legislator from Westbury. Mr. Corbin said he had heard Mr. Brewington compared to Mr. Cochran. I know what people mean by that -- the popularity and the public entertainment of law, he said. But Fred is not like that. Hes not in it for the publicity. Hes in it for the love of the law and the community. Mr. Brewington said that he never met Marshall, and that he has had only a brief meeting with Mr. Cochran. But one black lawyer to whom he is not likened is a man with whom Mr. Brewington has had a close professional association and a continuing friendship: C. Vernon Mason, the civil rights firebrand who achieved notoriety when he represented Tawana Brawley, an upstate teenager whose accusation that she had been raped by white racist tormentors turned out to have been a hoax.Mr. Brewington worked in Mr. Masons law office and was Mr. Masons campaign manager when he ran unsuccessfully for Manhattan district attorney. Mr. Brewington also served as one of Miss Brawleys lawyers for a brief time in 1987 before hanging out his own shingle in Manhattan. But he and Mr. Mason remained close over the years, even after Mr. Brewington moved his practice to Hempstead in 1997. Mr. Brewington said he learned a great deal from Mr. Mason, whose shoddy legal work and provocative style ultimately led to disbarment and an $185,000 judgment against him in a defamation suit filed by one of the men falsely accused in the Brawley rape trial. Vernon taught me so much about law and he is probably the best trial lawyer I have ever seen, Mr. Brewington said. He called Mr. Masons style persistent rather than confrontational and said he learned from Mr. Mason that to be good at cross examination, you have to be like a good puncher; you have to find different angles. But Mr. Brewingtons personal and courtroom style is completely distinct from Mr. Masons. He is not afraid to challenge his opponents, but there is a courtliness about him. My approach is geared toward the environment Im in, Mr. Brewington said, noting that the demographics and the culture of Nassau County are vastly different than those of Manhattan or the Bronx, where he practiced primarily when he worked for Mr. Mason. I have no problem being in the street, he added. But I make sure Im always on solid ground legally before dealing with the social issues. That puts our adversaries in a position where they have to deal with us strategically. Mr. Mason described his protégé as very meticulous and scholarly, and said that while Mr. Brewington picked up a lot of rudimentary stuff when he worked for me, he has his own unique and persuasive style and he just has a commanding presence in a courtroom. Even Mr. Brewingtons legal adversaries speak highly of him. We will go at it tooth and nail in the courtroom, but we can always shake hands at the end of a trial, said Paul F. Millus, a Manhattan lawyer who has faced off against Mr. Brewington in two high-profile cases. In the first, Mr. Brewington won $93,000 for the family of Christopher Jackson, an inmate who suffered from sickle cell anemia and died in 1998 while in the Nassau County Jail. In the second, Mr. Brewington won $2.25 million for the family of Christopher Wade, a black Elmont man who was killed in 1995 by a white Nassau County police officer who fired 16 shots at him in what a jury deemed deadly excessive force. That case is now on appeal. Fred is a tireless worker on behalf of his clients, Mr. Millus said, noting that he frequently would find Mr. Brewington still at work in his office at midnight or on weekends when they were on trial. And I mean this in the best way, he is a true believer in the positions he takes, whether I believe them or not. Mr. Brewington is 46 and lives in Freeport with his wife, Adrienne, who is pastor of the Westbury United Methodist Church. He grew up in Lakeview, a predominantly black community where he developed a strong sense of self and pride in his African-American heritage. He played football at Malverne High School and went on to become captain of the football team at the State University at Albany. While earning a law degree at Northeastern University in Boston, he interned at the Center for Constitutional Rights in Manhattan, then worked at several legal assistance centers in New York City before joining Mr. Masons firm. Ms. Brewington grew up with her future husband in Lakeview and said that after 16 years of marriage, she has grown accustomed to the long hours he puts into his work. In the early days of our marriage I used to wish I was married to a more ordinary guy, she said. But he practices law the way I pastor my church. He sees it as a calling, so it would be inappropriate for me to interfere with that. Mr. Brewington still finds time for volunteer work in the community. For 18 years he has been a volunteer assistant football coach at Malverne High School and he is active in the Lakeview Youth Federation, which sponsors the annual Friendship Games, an annual track and field event for Nassau County high school students. youtu.be/Oswl_3OUxks
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 12:47:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015