Eye-catching tie is attorney's trademark

Over the years, Edward Galison's neckties have garnered plenty of laughs, and, on occasions, trouble for the defense attorney, like the time a judge declared a mistrial and a prosecutor demanded he be thrown in jail.

Whenever Galison sported a fish tie with a yellow feather or one that looked like a shark, he invariably used one of these two lines on unsuspecting jurors:

"The case is fishy." Or this one-liner: "If I say something fishy, don't hold it against my client."

The outlandish ties -- there are hundreds -- and the jokes that accompany each one are part of the repertoire Galison has used for more than four decades of practicing criminal law, largely in Nassau County.

There is no way to tell whether jurors are at all persuaded in part by the ties when it comes to deciding clients' innocence or guilt, but Galison nevertheless tries: He uses the neckties to connect with jurors.

Even though it is the prosecutor's job to demonstrate guilt, Galison, whose office is in Mineola, said the reality is that jurors are more likely to believe that a defendant must have done something wrong to be arrested in the first place.

The way Galison sees it, it is his job to overcome jurors' prejudices, and his ties are a way to do that. "If I get them laughing, then I am way ahead of the game," Galison said.

His shtick was an accident. More than four decades ago, Galison received a tie from his late mother-in-law, Mary Boyar. "It was a multicolor tie with stripes and checks," he recalled.

He wore it to work one day and said three jurors walked up to him and remarked how much they liked it. "I said 'How could you love a tie this ugly?' " Galison recalled.

A distinctive style

But that was the moment he said he realized he had gotten the jurors' attention. Through the years, his clients, friends, even prosecutors and judges have bought them for him as gifts.

Defense attorney Steven Christiansen, a friend and colleague, said that most lawyers know they shouldn't wear a $2,000 Armani suit and a pinkie ring when they appear before a blue-collar jury.

"All those rules Eddie breaks and breaks them with great effectiveness," said Christiansen, who has been practicing criminal law in Mineola for about 15 years. "You can't teach it. You can't fake it. It's not an act. It's just Eddie."

Around the courthouses in Mineola and Hempstead, Galison is well-known for his cross-examinations of police officers. He usually wears a necktie depicting pigs with wings in police uniforms or one with an image of Pinocchio in a police uniform with one hand on the Bible.

Galison said he hopes his choice of necktie will anger witnesses. "When they're thinking of me antagonizing them, they'll make mistakes," he said.

One time, as Galison remembered, he wore the Pinocchio tie during a trial. The prosecutor, John Lewis, Jr., who apparently hadn't seen it, finally took notice and objected. Lewis asked the presiding judge, John Galasso, to lock Galison up for contempt of court. Lewis argued unsuccessfully that Galison was disrespecting the judicial process.

"Pinocchio wasn't just Pinocchio," Lewis said. "Pinocchio was sitting on the witness stand testifying."

Galison's client was charged with shooting and injuring a man's leg, said Lewis, and that was no laughing matter."Now, sitting here as a defense counsel I find it funny," Lewis said. "But, I would never do myself."

Disorder in the court?

Some judges don't care for Galison's tie repertoire and, early on, a few publicly complained about it. These days, however, if they do at all, it's done privately.

"I've never seen him without one of those garish ties," said Acting Nassau County Court Judge William O'Brien. "To me, it's sort of a sense of amusement. I am not offended by anything he wears."

When O'Brien met Galison in the 1980s, the ties were more of a topic of discussion among those who worked in the courthouses.

"One time he had on a tie that was supposed to light up," O'Brien said. "I remembered being disappointed because I didn't see its full effect."

The first time Acting State Supreme Court Justice Steven M. Jaeger met Galison was in the 1980s when Jaeger was a law clerk to the late Nassau County Court Judge Alexander Vitale. Jaeger remembered that Galison, who represented a prostitute, wore a tie with an image of a naked woman during jury selection on a robbery case.

Eleven jurors had been chosen, Galison said, before the judge noticed his tie.

"The judge asked Eddie to approach the bench so he could get a better look at the tie," Jaeger said. The judge, Galison remembered, asked him how he could wear such a tie to court.

"Would you like me to get you one," Galison replied, thinking the judge was joking.

The judge remarked that Galison's tie was "self-illuminating," according to Galison.

"It lights up my life," Galison shot back.

The prosecutor, according to Galison, said the tie spoke for itself.

"I told him [the prosecutor] I didn't like his pants and he should remove them," Galison said.

The judge looked at the jurors and said one of the lawyers in the case was "creating a carnival-like atmosphere" and he stared at Galison.

Galison jumped up, looked at his co-counsel, who was representing the pimp, and said: "You're embarrassing me."

The judge ended up declaring a mistrial, dismissed the jurors and ordered jury selection to start anew the next day, Jaeger said.

"The judge thought it would be better to start over with fresh group of jurors," Jaeger said.

Galison showed up the next day wearing the same tie.

"I take my work seriously," Galison said. "I don't take myself seriously."