Michael is an accomplished trial attorney with an unparalleled record of courtroom success. Michael has spent his career fiercely advocating for the rights of criminal defendants and those whose civil rights have been attacked. As a public defender in the Bronx, Michael tried more than a dozen felony and misdemeanor cases to verdict and earned an acquittal or dismissal of all criminal charges in all but one. Most recently, he was the lead trial counsel in Jawaun Fraser v. City of New York, Undercover Officer 84, Detective Matthew Regina, and Detective Jason Deltoro, a federal civil rights wrongful conviction action brought against three NYPD officers and the City of New York for constitutional violations.  After trial, the jury found all defendants liable on all claims, and awarded Michael’s client nearly $2 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Michael has spent more than a decade litigating civil, criminal and commercial matters at the highest levels, at some of the country’s most elite legal institutions.

Cristina is an associate at Bloch & White LLP, focusing on civil rights litigation, criminal defense, and commercial litigation.  Cristina joins the firm after clerking for Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Previously, she served as a law clerk to Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York. Prior to her clerkships, Cristina was an associate at an elite international law firm, where she gained trial and appellate experience and litigated cases in both federal and state court.  During this time, Cristina worked on commercial cases and government investigations for an array of clients, including international media and technology companies.  She was a member of a trial team in federal court, representing a healthcare technology company in a case involving trade secrets, intellectual property, and employment issues.  She also maintained an active constitutional law and civil rights pro bono practice, working on cases involving, among other issues, immigrants’ rights, criminal justice, reproductive rights, and voting rights.  For example, she led a team that represented a family seeking asylum in the United States, filed an amicus brief in a federal court of appeals concerning citizenship in the U.S. territories, represented a prominent reproductive rights organization in its lawsuit against the federal government, and filed habeas petitions for individuals in ICE detention during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anna Kate joined Bloch & White as the Firm’s first paralegal. Prior to joining the Firm, she was a Humanities Fellow at the Dumbarton Oaks Humanities Institute and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Anna Kate graduated from Harvard College cum laude in 2021 with a B.A. in History & Literature and a secondary in Ethnicity, Migration & Rights. She was recognized as a member of the top 5% of her class and awarded a John Harvard Scholarship in 2020. As an undergraduate, she served as president of Natives at Harvard College, Harvard’s community organization for Indigenous undergraduates. As president, she represented the group in discussions with university leadership, other student organizations, and officials from the cities of Cambridge and Boston. In 2021, she was awarded a Student Leadership Award by the Native American Alumni of Harvard University. She interned with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and held multiple academic research positions through the Summer Humanities and Arts Research Program, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and the Harvard History Department.