Legal Services & Lawyers

David L. Scher, a graduate of Tufts University and Fordham University School of Law, joined the firm in 2003.

Mr. Scher has achieved great success both in and out of the courtroom in his young career. Mr. Scher has a number of seven-figure settlements to his record. In May of 2008, Mr. Scher settled a motor vehicle accident case for $1,250,000 (the full available insurance limits) on the eve of trial. In October of 2008, Mr. Scher settled a case on behalf of a pedestrian who was struck by a truck for $2,500,000. In the month of April 2009, Mr. Scher settled two construction accident cases involving workers who fell and were injured on the job - for $1,350,000 and $1,325,000. In the same month, he settled a premises liability case involving an exacerbation of a prior neck injury for $1,175,000. In June 2009, Mr Scher recovered $750,000 for a laborer who suffered a fracture and partially torn rotator cuff of his non-dominant arm. Mr. Scher has also tried numerous cases to verdict. A recent case involving a motor vehicle accident that led to a shoulder and knee surgery, which Mr. Scher tried with Stephen J. Murphy of the firm, resolved for $1,000,000.

Mr. Scher is noted for his knowledge of the New York State Labor Law and specialty in handling cases on behalf of injured construction workers. In April 2009, Mr. Scher was appointed to the New York State Trial Lawyers' Association's ("NYSTLA") Labor Law Committee. He is the youngest member of the Committee in the State of New York. Mr. Scher is also known for his general legal research and writing skills. He runs the firm's appellate practice and handles a large number of the firm's complex Labor Law motions. Mr. Scher regularly appears before the Appellate Division for both the First and Second Department and has successfully handled many appellate arguments on behalf of the firm.

While Mr. Scher focuses on handling significant personal injury cases, Mr. Scher's experience also includes Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") litigation. Mr. Scher has represented a group of Brooklyn restaurant workers who were being grossly underpaid, and a large class of municipal employees who were being unfairly compensated.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Scher worked for the Office of the New York State Attorney General, volunteered for a Civil Rights legal aid clinic and served as a law clerk for New York County Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich.

Mr. Scher is a member of the New York State Bar Association, New York State Trial Lawyers' Association and New York County Lawyers' Association.

Mr. Scher is also a proud Committee Member for an annual fundraising event that supports the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Stephen J. Murphy is a lifetime New Yorker with Irish roots. Mr. Murphy comes from a family of firefighters, police officers, prosecutors and teachers. Both of Mr. Murphy's grandfathers were members of the Fire Department. His grandfather, Stephen J. Murphy, served the City of New York as Interim Fire Commissioner. His maternal grandfather, Walter Matthews, reached the rank of Assistant Chief of Department.

Mr. Murphy joined the firm Block & O'Toole in early 2005 after a successful and rewarding career as a homicide prosecutor. Mr. Murphy is best known for his work in the courtroom, now focusing on catastrophic construction accident and personal injury trial work. Mr. Murphy handles a wide range of cases including labor law and construction accidents, wrongful death, premises liability, trucking collisions, medical malpractice and motor vehicle cases.

With slightly more than four years in civil practice, Mr. Murphy already has an extremely impressive body of work, regularly returning verdicts and settlements in excess of a million dollars. Recently Mr. Murphy, along with his colleague Daniel O'Toole, persuaded a Suffolk County jury to return an astounding verdict of $32,756,156 on behalf of a 60 year-old man in a traumatic brain injury case. The verdict, covered extensively by the local media, is the largest negligence verdict ever in Long Island. In addition, the result was also recognized by the New York Law Journal as the second highest negligence verdict in New York State for 2007 and one of the top 100 verdicts in 2007 for the entire United States. In 2008, Mr. Murphy began the year resolving greater than an average of $5,000,000 worth of cases per month. He also successfully negotiated a $15,500,000 settlement on behalf of an injured client. He was named a partner in July 2008 and the firm name was then changed to Block OâToole & Murphy.

Mr. Murphy began his legal career working as an Assistant District Attorney under Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes. He honed his skills in the criminal courtrooms in Brooklyn, prosecuting persons accused of violent crimes. Mr. Murphy earned a reputation from the judiciary and his colleagues as a tough, but fair, prosecutor. In early 2002, District Attorney Hynes, recognizing Mr. Murphy's talents and achievements, appointed him to his elite Homicide Bureau. Mr. Murphy, the youngest member of Brooklyn's Homicide Bureau, successfully handled several high profile cases, including double and triple murders, arson homicides, gang murders and highly publicized murders of children and members of the New York City Police Department.

In July 2003, Mr. Murphy traveled to Sarajevo on behalf of the United States Justice Department to assist in the implementation of a new justice system in post-war Bosnia & Hercegovina. While there, Mr. Murphy, and two Federal District Court judges from California, were responsible for trial advocacy training for the newly appointed attorneys and judges in the region.

Mr. Murphy is an adjunct professor of law at the St. John's University School of law. He teaches trial advocacy and lectures on criminal and civil trial practice and evidence. Mr. Murphy also serves as an instructor for their nationally regarded trial advocacy program.





Experience

Recent Results:

$32,756,156 Jury Verdict in Suffolk County for a 60 year-old man that sustained a traumatic brain injury.

$15,500,000 Settlement for an injured client in a pedestrian knockdown case.

Over $21,000,000 in resolutions in the first four months of 2008.

$3,231,000 Settlement against a Bronx slumlord on behalf of an infant that was burned with hot water while bathing in her home.

$2,250,000 Settlement just before trial for an injured coca-cola worker that sustained a back injury while making a delivery at a prominent french restaurant.

$2,2000,000 Settlement just before trial for an injured sanitation worker that sustained a fractured leg while working that required surgery and a skin graft.

$2,005,000 Settlement in a "reckless disregard" case against an ambulance company.

$1,941,000.00 Jury Verdict in a spine surgery case in Kings County.

$1,823,000 Jury Verdict in a non-surgical disc bulge case in Kings County. His client, a surgeon, missed a total of one day of work.

$1,475,000 Settlement for a hospital employee that was injured on the job.

$1,450,000 and $924,000 Settlements in two concurrent causation cases in Queens County.

$1,400,000 Settlement in Queens just before summations for an injured carpenter that lost the tips of his fingers

$1,350,000 Settlement before trial on a trucking accident in Queens County.

$1,350,000 Settlement on the eve of trial for a construction laborer that fell off a roof, fracturing his arm and a bone in his pelvis. The trial was venued in Rockland County.

$1,325,000 Settlement just before trial for a carpenter at a construction project who fell when he placed an unopened and unlocked ladder on top of a rolling scaffold, sustaining lower back and knee injuries.

$1,250,000 Settlement just before summations in a Bronx trial on behalf of a bicycle messenger that sustained leg and knee injuries in an accident.

$1,175,000 Settlement on the eve of trial for a woman with long standing and preexisiting cervical herniations that was struck by unsafely stacked products in a large supermarket.

$1,000,000 Settlement following a Jury Verdict in the Bronx for a 14 year-old that had arthroscopic knee surgery after an accident.

$1,000,000 Settlement (the entire insurance policy) for a 36 year-old man that sustained lung damage during a fire that took place in his apartment. The suit was brought against the landlord for illegally removing the fire escape 4 months before the fire occurred.




Education

Mr. Murphy is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where he played varsity football. He then went on to attend the St. John's University School of law where he graduated magna cum laude in 1997. He was ranked in the top 3% of his class and received several academic honors.



Memberships

Member of the Board of Directors, New York State Trial Lawyers Association
Vice President of the Brooklyn Manhattan Trial Lawyers Association
Member, The Brehon Society

Bar Admissions

New York State
Eastern District of New York (Federal Court)
Southern District of New York (Federal Court)
New Jersey

Community Activities

Mr. Murphy is a proud member of the St. Jude Children's Hospital fundraising team.

Ellen Rothstein has been an attorney since 1983 and practices in the following areas: business, commercial, construction and real estate litigation, residential real estate and co-op transactions and tort law. Many clients come to her through referral as she is known by her colleagues to handle all matters with personal service and quality results. Ms. Rothstein is admitted to practice in New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit, and the U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Ms. Rothstein has an extensive legal education including an LL.M. in Corporate Law from New York University School of Law. She earned her Juris Doctor from Hofstra University School of Law in 1982. Ms. Rothstein also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Linguistics from the State University of New York at Albany from which she graduated in 1979 Magna Cum Laude.

She belongs to the New York State Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City New York.

Areas Of Practice:
Business and Commercial Litigation
Construction Law
Negligence
Real Estate Litigation
Residential Real Estate Transactions