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Record Settlement Reached. See Press Release March 13, 2008 for details.
The Law Office of Matthew Kumin, P.C. is pleased to announce
that John Burris will be joining the firm as "of counsel." John Burris and Matt Kumin have collaborated on numerous civil rights cases over the past 10 years including their first case together, along with Stephen Collier, Patterson et al. v. Oakland et al., stemming from the 1994 police riot at the Festival at the Lake.
Burris is Northern California's iconic and most successful civil rights attorney whose succinct synopses and commentaries of current prominent court cases has landed him on virtually every major television and radio network.
His successes include his record $10+ million settlement with the City of Oakland in the famous Riders civil case and the imposition of a court appointed monitor to track and train Oakland's notoriously rough police force.
Burris joins Steve Collier, who has served as "of counsel" to the Kumin firm since 1995.
The firm is also moving to its birthplace, the Flood Building, where it will join Rockwell and Kane's suite on the 11th Floor.
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John Burris, Matt Kumin and Stephen Collier taking a break during the trial, Patterson et al. v. City of Oakland et al.
Kumin Intervenes to Protect The Rights of Citizens to Identify Police Misconduct
When Betty Evans told the authorities that she saw a police officer beating someone outside her doorway, she never suspected the cop would then sue her in court for slander! When Kumin was asked to represent Betty on a pro bono basis, he jumped at the opportunity. By the end of the successful effort to stop the lawsuit, Kumin, in conjunction with the ACLU and the anti-SLAPP project, aired the outrageous details of the case. More importantly, the case helped ongoing efforts to strike down an obviously unconstitutional statute that gives only the police, alone among all governmental employees, the right to sue citizens for complaining about them.
Kumin Successfully Places An Injured Boy In A Protective Guardianship.
When Shawn Jones, a young Richmond boy, was viciously mauled by a dog in early 2001, the Bay Area saw an outpouring of emotion as thousands of people sent him hundreds of thousands of dollars to assist in his recovery. Working with KGO Radio, Kumin ensured that the funds were safely kept and administered by an independent guardian.