The Firm
Named a Superlawyer, Cory Morris is admitted to practice in New York State, the Eastern District of New York and the Southern District of New York. He is also admitted to practice law in Florida State. He was named top 40 under 40 by the Long Island Business News and named top 30 under 30 by the Huntington Chamber of Commerce.
Attorney & Counselor
at Law.
Mr. Morris is an advocate for equality, civil rights and social justice within the legal community. In recognition of this, Mr. Morris is the recipient of an Equality Award at the Suffolk County New York Civil Liberties Union 50th Anniversary Gala and the New York State Bar Empire Justice Award for Pro Bono work.
He is focused on helping people charged with a crime, regardless of the allegations, and helping people vindicate their rights to be free from unreasonable government intrusion and excessive force. The Law Offices of Cory H. Morris focuses on helping individuals facing addiction and criminal issues, accidents and injuries, and, lastly, accountability issues.
Cory H. Morris, Managing Partner
Mr. Morris is familiar with the issues surrounding Long Island and has an advanced background in psychology, serving as an Adjunct at Adelphi University. He attended college on Long Island, starting at Nassau Community College, obtaining his Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice from Adelphi University in 2008 and his Master's Degree from Adelphi's Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies in 2010. During his graduate degree, his concentration was on forensic psychology, substance abuse, and impulsive disorders.
He obtained an assistantship with Dr. Larry Josephs, was published in the Encyclopedia of the History of Psychological Theories and contributed to Adelphi's scholarship, working with a doctoral student and post-doctoral professor in developing his thesis titled "Impulsivity in the form of Suicidality in Borderline Personality Disorder."
Mr. Morris graduated from Touro College at the top of his class, earning Dean's List honors and both the David A. Berg and Howard Glickstein Public Interest Fellowships. He held leadership roles as President of the American Civil Liberties Union student group and vice president of the criminal justice society, and he contributed to the International Law Review.
Active in public service, Mr. Morris participated in the Center for Restorative Practices and the Unemployment Action Center. He volunteered with the Mississippi Center for Justice and Malik Rahim's Common Ground organization, aiding unemployment claimants and high school students in suspension hearings.
His dedication earned him awards for outstanding advocacy and pro bono legal services, including the Brian Lord Memorial Award. He also assisted low-income New Yorkers in obtaining free legal services as a live chat operator.
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School Accountability: After a much litigated motion to dismiss in D.W.M. et al. v. St. Mary School, et al., 2:18-cv-03099 (DRH–AKT), The Honorable Judge Denis. R. Hurley Ordered that, among others, the Hostile Educational Environment survived against a private school. The Judge wrote that “While Courts should not second-guess school administrators’ disciplinary decisions, this does not give the School Defendants carte blanche to fail to take any meaningful action in response to a disturbing racial attack that supposedly threatened violence…” The case was featured on the front page of the New York Law Journal and this office continues to seek justice for the Moore Family.
The office also successfully opposed a School District’s motion to hide surveillance footage capturing a school-incident, the choking of a student by a security guard, vis-a-vis a protective Order in Edmond v. Longwood CSD et al, 2:16-cv-02871-JFB-AYS, Document 55 (EDNY 04/17/17), a case where the Court found that “The District Defendants have provided this Court with no independent factual basis, nor case law, to issue a protective order other than the spectre that Plaintiffs may release the footage to the public.”
Government Accountability: After an appeal that was unsuccessful in the release of attorney’s fees, the Matter of Rosasco v. St James Fire District et al (Sup. Court, Suffolk County), was a successful (Freedom of Information Law, FOIL) social justice litigation which resulted in the release of records – Respondents producing a report (not released prior to the proposed sale or to the public without litigation) – regarding the sale of the historic St. James Fire House that led to the firehouse becoming historic and sought to be preserved by voters. Upon release of the report and consistent with the contents within that report, the voters rejected the proposed sale of the firehouse. Touted as a victory by the corporate firm hired and paid by the fire district, the fire house was not sold – it stands despite this enormous effort – and, albeit the Respondents had to pay the corporate firm, this law office was unable to recover attorney’s fees and, thus, the matter remained a pro bono litigation in the public interest.
A notable victory was In the Matter of Law Offices of Cory H. Morris, appellant, v County of Nassau, et al., respondents, a decision which held, inter alia, “to the extent that a TPVA record concerns the nonadjudicatory responsibilities of the TPVA, it is not exempt from disclosure under the definition of “agency” in Public Officers Law § 86(3).”
Regarding Police Misconduct Records, the Law Offices of Cory H. Morris was featured in various news outlets for our pro bono efforts and work towards increasing the access to governmental records through FOIL, New York’s Freedom information law as further discussed at CourtHouse News: https://www.courthousenews.com/police-disciplinary-records-face-spotlight-in-nycs-latest-reform-push/
The Brechner Center for Freedom of Information issued a press release together with MuckRock stating that “In a letter accompanying each freedom-of-information request, New York attorney Cory Morris puts the agencies on notice that the records are potentially the subject of legal action and cannot be destroyed. As we approach the two (2) year mark, this office has filed multiple lawsuits to obtain Police Misconduct Records, some of which are still pending.
MuckRock is hosting the requests and responses on its website, where the progress of each request is viewable by creating a free account. A coalition of news organizations is being assembled to follow up on the requests and analyze the findings.”
Cory Morris and others founded the Non-For-Profit The Institute for Access to Public Information, which provides pro bono legal representation, amicus curiae support, educational workshops, and other legal resources to help news organizations and the public gain access to government records on Long Island. (www.FOIA-FOIL.com).
In a notable victory to obtain the release of police misconduct records in the City of Middletown, the Law Offices of Cory H. Morris assisted Kenneth Puig, an attorney, in obtaining the release of records although (as in Matter of Rosasco) the lower court(s) remain recalcitrant in awarding attorneys fees for these litigations under the Freedom of Information Law. Without the award of attorney’s fees, these agencies that violate the law are without accountability. The Police Misconduct Records in the City of Middletown are now released and the appeal, like Rosasco, has to do with whether us attorneys should be compensated for our time in litigating FOIL lawsuits in the public interest in the fashion of private attorney general as intended by the lawmakers and touted among the legal profession as commendable pursuits.
