Avi Schick

Government Investigations & Litigations

Avi represents businesses and individuals in civil, criminal, and regulatory and enforcement matters. He frequently represents clients before the New York Attorney General’s Office and New York State Department of Financial Services, as well as before attorneys general and state regulators across the country, and federal prosecutors and enforcement authorities in New York. While the best resolutions are those that never become public, Avi has also tried cases to jury verdict and argued appeals at the Second Circuit, the New York Court of Appeals and the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Avi has advised and represented public companies, substantial businesses, high-profile entrepreneurs, real estate developers, owners and financiers, senior and elected government officials, political parties, and nonprofit and educational institutions. He has successfully defended numerous investigations and claims alleging False Claims Act, Martin Act, consumer fraud, tax nonprofit law, governance, labor and employment, and public corruption and integrity claims.

Representative Experience

• A senior executive in a high-profile criminal matter in which five people received jail sentences, but the senior executive received a sentence of probation.
• A well-known national consumer-oriented company in multiple investigations before the New York Attorney General’s Office, all of which were closed with no findings or charges.
• A well-known New York and online retailer in connection with investigations involving labor practices and data privacy issues.
• A national retailer in connection with an investigation into labor practices.
• A political party before the New York Court of Appeals in a challenge to the validity of the appointment of a special prosecutor; no charges were brought against the political party.
• One of the largest private colleges in New Jersey in a constitutional challenge before the N.J. Supreme Court, obtaining vacatur of an adverse appellate decision.
• An educational institution in a federal jury trial, in which all claims against the client were dismissed, and the jury returned a verdict awarding the client 100% of its counterclaim. 
• An entrepreneur in a substantial arbitration brought by private equity purchasers; after eight days of hearings, obtained a dismissal of the claim against the client and payment of 100% of the client’s counterclaim as well as all legal fees. 

Religious Liberties Litigation

Avi is a leading religious liberties litigator. He has conducted and led litigations successfully challenging government regulation of circumcision practices, houses of worship, and the funding and operation of religious educational institutions. Avi has also represented individuals who faced discrimination from private and government employers due to their faith.

In November 2020, Avi obtained a United States Supreme Court injunction striking down New York State limitations on attendance at houses of worship in portions of New York City.

As a government lawyer, Avi brought cases against employers who discriminated against Muslim, Sikh, Seventh Day Adventist, Rastafarian and Orthodox Jewish employees and job applicants. Avi also drafted New York’s comprehensive religious accommodation law, which served as a model for similar laws adopted by several other states.

Civic Activities

In addition to his decade as a senior New York State official, Avi is deeply engaged in the civic life of New York.

Avi recently served as a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on Domestic Terrorism and Hate Crimes. He served three New York governors as chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which oversaw the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site and the revitalization of Lower Manhattan. Avi also served as both a gubernatorial and mayoral appointee to the board of directors of Governors Island, including as chairman. He was also a long-serving trustee of the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

Thought Leadership

Avi regularly writes on legal and public policy issues, focusing primarily on First Amendment matters. His articles have been published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Slate, Legal Affairs, New Republic, Daily News and elsewhere. Avi’s writings have been cited in court opinions and academic works and have been included in legal anthologies.