Ameer Benno joined Block O’Toole & Murphy in 2019 after a successful career as a trial lawyer at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Mr. Benno served for several years in both the trial division and the appeals bureau as an Assistant District Attorney. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Cornell Law School, Mr. Benno has spent his career fighting for the rights of accused individuals who have been wronged by governmental abuses of authority, including prisoners’ rights cases, unjust conviction claims, police misconduct, and employment discrimination matters.
At Block O’Toole & Murphy, Mr. Benno handles personal injury as well as civil rights matters. He deals with a wide variety of cases, including premises liability, motor vehicle accidents, and construction accidents.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Benno worked at premier civil litigation law firms representing plaintiffs in personal injury and civil rights matters. He was also an adjunct professor at New York Law School for seven years, teaching Appellate Advocacy and Legal Reasoning and Writing.
Over the years Mr. Benno has been the recipient of numerous prestigious honors and awards. For four years he was included in the Super Lawyers Rising Stars list. He has also been named to the National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 list. Every year since 2012, he has been named a New York Metro Super Lawyer in the area of civil rights law. Avvo, the online lawyer rating service, rated Mr. Benno with their highest score of 10.0. He has also been chosen as one of the “Nation’s Top Attorneys” by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel.
Outside the office, Mr. Benno lectures for continuing legal education providers such as Lawline.com and the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, as well as bar associations on civil rights litigation and constitutional law.
A resident of Bellmore, Mr. Benno serves as a member of many organizations, including the Merrick Jewish Centre, the Nassau County Police Commissioner’s Council, and Nassau-Suffolk Law Services, where he sits on the advisory board. He is also the president of the Merrick-Bellmore Jewish Community Council as well as the Nassau Lawyers Association of Long Island.
Mr. Benno is admitted to practice law in the states of New York and Connecticut, as well as the federal courts of the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of New York. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second and Third Circuits.