Nassau awards $1.3M in legal contracts to GOP ally Sheharyar Ali, son of adviser to Bruce Blakeman

Nassau Republicans awarded over $1 million in taxpayer-funded legal contracts to the one-man law firm of a longtime GOP ally who ran an unsuccessful bid for legislator last year, and whose father is a senior adviser to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

In the six months after Sheharyar Ali’s failed political campaign, lawmakers awarded him four contracts to represent Nassau in separate lawsuits, Newsday found.

Hiring private lawyers for county work through an abridged bidding process has become increasingly common in Nassau. But local Democrats say Ali is not qualified to handle a recently awarded wrongful imprisonment case with his one-man shop, which he runs out of a Valley Stream building owned by Nassau GOP Chair Joe Cairo.

Hiring a single attorney for major cases, Democrats argue, increases the county's risk to pay heftier settlements. Republicans countered that Ali has won positive verdicts for Nassau, and that his low hourly rate saves taxpayer money. 

In a recent contract totaling $601,000, Ali — who handles personal injury, commercial litigation and municipal defense cases — was hired to represent Nassau County and five police detectives in a federal lawsuit filed by a man who spent 30 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. The county's liability in a lawsuit like this could range from $30 million to $90 million, various attorneys told Newsday. Each contract awarded states Ali was chosen to represent the county for his "satisfactory reputation" handling federal civil rights cases for municipalities. 

Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann, a partner at Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger LLP, secured a $36 million jury verdict against Nassau County in a wrongful conviction case filed by two men who served nearly 18 years in prison for the 1984 murder and rape of a Lynbrook teenage girl. At the time, Nassau had five attorneys on the case.

"I can’t remember a case that we have litigated against a solo practitioner, and we do cases all over the country," Hoffman told Newsday. "These are very big cases in terms of the complexity of the legal issues and also the scope of the records. ... There's a lot of post-conviction materials, lots of testimony over time, lots of evidence. ... We find that we need multiple lawyers and a full staff, especially at critical stages of the case."

Private lawyers can hire subcontractors with approval from the County Attorney's Office, but Ali told Newsday he would not require subcontractors for this case. 

"My record of accomplishments representing the County speaks for itself," Ali wrote in a statement for Newsday. In winning eight cases for the county, Ali said it makes him “the most successful litigator for the County.”

He added, “Based on value for the taxpayer dollar, my hourly rate is among the most economical for the County."

After finishing law school in 2017 and working for several years as a prosecutor with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, Ali, 33, joined the Nassau County Attorney’s Office as deputy county attorney when Blakeman took office in January 2022 at a base salary of $117,625. He left in December 2024 to start his own practice. 

Newsday reviewed court records showing Ali's eight favorable verdicts in cases ranging from civil rights, prisoner rights and excessive force.

But in wrongful conviction cases, "The potential for astronomical jury awards grows and grows and grows," Emma Freudenberger, another partner at Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger LLP, told Newsday.

"The public should be looking at who’s getting these contracts, and why," she said.

A political family

Ali’s family has long been connected to the Nassau GOP.

His father, Chudhary Akram, has known Cairo for some 30 or 40 years and is now a senior adviser to Blakeman, an unpaid role. He served as host committee co-chair for the 2024 Cricket World Cup, which generated about $150 million in revenue for local businesses and Nassau County.

Ali's brother, Hamza Akram, was elected village trustee in Hewlett Harbor last summer. Last month, Ali hosted an event at the Uniondale Marriott with the South Asian American Small Business Association to honor Cairo. The ceremony doubled as a campaign event to promote a slate of Republican candidates for local and statewide office.

Taking the stage, Legis. John Giuffré (R-Garden City) said: "I want to thank you all for coming and supporting our party. When I’m up there on the dais at the legislature, and Sheharyar Ali’s name comes up to give contracts ... I am always supporting him."

Ali himself ran two unsuccessful campaigns for office — for the 3rd District in 2023 and Nassau’s 14th District last November. He lost by a 12% margin in last year’s race (his former campaign staffer is now vying for the latter seat).

Ali is also representing the town of Hempstead in several active cases and has taken on immigration work; he recently got a woman who was deported to Guatemala back into the United States and reunited with her family.

Ralph Reissman, a former deputy county attorney who represented Nassau in dozens of false arrest and imprisonment cases during his 20 years with the office, and who previously worked with Ali, said he was "a good lawyer and a hard worker." But the wrongful imprisonment case required at least three attorneys, he said. "Ali cannot cover this case alone. ... It’s not possible. He has to go through 30 years of jail records."

Vetting process

The debate about Ali’s public contracts came to a head at a July 13 legislature meeting, where Republicans and Democrats debated whether Ali was equipped to handle the multimillion-dollar wrongful imprisonment case.

The county identified 52 law firms qualified to handle the case, records show. Four firms responded, and officials chose Ali. 

Nassau Legis. Arnold Drucker (D-Plainview) questioned Richard Soleymanzadeh, a deputy county attorney representing the administration. 

"This case is one of the most significant cases that has come before the county in quite some time in terms of financial liability and risk," Drucker said. "I want to understand the process and the mechanics of how you chose this particular law firm. I'm used to seeing names like McNamara, Schoenek, Peter Bee and Traurig, but not this particular firm on a case of this magnitude. Can you take me through the process?"

Soleymanzadeh replied, "No."

The legislature’s presiding officer, Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence), defended Ali, saying hiring private lawyers like him can save the county money.

Ali "has had a superlative record in defending cases for the county," Kopel said. "There are instances when using outside counsel in one particular case may save us so much money that they practically pay for all the outside counsel for an entire year."

Nassau Legis. Scott Davis (D-Rockville Centre) then delivered an 18-minute speech on why relying on a one-man shop to handle a "heavy-duty" case with "off the charts" liability was reckless. He cited similar wrongful imprisonment cases where Nassau hired a private law firm with more than 100 attorneys.

"This attorney graduated from law school in 2017. I have socks older than the experience he has," Davis said. "This makes zero sense at all."

"It’s absolute malfeasance and malpractice," he said. "The county would be better suited with a firm that has the adequate resources. ... Just purely from a resource and staffing standpoint."

Davis later told Newsday, "[The county] is hiring these white-shoe firms to fight other cases. ... Well, if you’re going to throw millions of dollars at a firm, this is where you do it."

In response to Davis, Blakeman said in a statement, "Legislator Davis obviously hasn’t been doing his job or he would have known that Mr. Ali has obtained excellent results for the county and by the way his hourly rate was lowest among all bidders." Ali's hourly rate is $250, records show.

Blakeman also called Ali Nassau's "most successful litigator" after the eight verdicts in favor of the county. "His hourly rate was the lowest of all the responding law firms," he wrote in the statement. 

After more than 30 minutes of discussion, Democrats introduced a motion to table the item. The GOP shot it down, and the contract passed 4-3.

In an April contract totaling $330,500, Ali was hired to represent Nassau County, its jail, its former sheriff and several other defendants in a $20 million lawsuit filed by the family of a deceased inmate alleging he was denied medical care while in custody.

In three other contracts, worth between $45,000 and $175,000, Ali was hired months before lawmakers voted on the matter. Nassau officials from both sides of the aisle often award taxpayer money before contracts go through the required vetting processes. 

Reissman, the former deputy county attorney, said Nassau Republicans were steering six-figure contracts to Ali because of his dad's political clout and support.

"That’s his reward," Reissman said. "He went out on his own ... and now all of a sudden, he’s getting the county vendor contracts."

Newsday's Caroline Curtin contributed research to this story.