NEWS
july 24, 2025
david b. shanies and client raymond flanks present at second circuit program
Today David and Shanies Law client Raymond Flanks participated in the Justice for All program, a civic education initiative by the Federal Courts of the Second Circuit. Their presentation on wrongful convictions highlighted Raymond’s firsthand experience being wrongfully convicted in New Orleans, Louisiana, and serving nearly four decades in prison before he was exonerated in 2022 thanks to the tireless advocacy of Innocence Project New Orleans. David spoke about his experience as a lawyer fighting for justice on behalf of wrongfully convicted individuals throughout the country. The Justice for All program, named in honor of the late Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, uses speakers, historical reenactments, courthouse visits, contests, and civic ceremonies to promote civic education for citizens of all ages and backgrounds. The judges who coordinated this year’s program at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York expressed gratitude to Raymond and David for an inspiring presentation.
May 13, 2025
SHANIES LAW exoneration work featured in critically acclaimed book
Shanies Law attorneys David B. Shanies and Deborah I. Francois were subjects in celebrated journalist and author Mark Whitaker’s latest work, The Afterlife of Malcolm X, published by Simon and Schuster. Whitaker—who became the first African American leader of a national newspaper as Editor of Newsweek, and later served as Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News and Managing Editor of CNN Worldwide—has published numerous award-winning works of non-fiction on civil rights history and Black culture. The Afterlife of Malcolm X tells the story of Malcolm X’s posthumous legacy, from the 1960s to today. Whitaker gave significant attention to the case of Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam, two men wrongfully convicted of Malcolm’s murder, whose were exonerated in 2021 based on the work of Shanies Law and co-counsel at Innocence Project. Whitaker’s work has been widely praised; the Washington Post called the book “[b]eautifully written and engaging,” and the Chicago Review of Books described it as “Enthralling…often breathtaking.”
APRIl 29, 2025
SHANIES LAW wins appeal, affirming LOUISIANA trial victory
Shanies Law client Sullivan Walter defeated the State of Louisiana’s appeal from his 2024 trial victory on a petition under the state’s wrongful conviction compensation statute. David B. Shanies and co-counsel Christopher J. Murell of Murell Law won an award for the maximum compensation available under state law, which unfortunately is capped at $480,000. Sullivan was exonerated in 2022 after Innocence Project New Orleans proved he could not have been the committed the crime for which he was convicted, based on serological evidence obtained during the investigation but hidden from the defense until moments before the trial began.
The Louisiana Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit, in an opinion authored by Chief Judge Roland L. Belsome, became the third court to make an explicit finding that Sullivan Walter is innocent. As the Court of Appeals wrote: “Mr. Walter, who spent 36 years behind bars—more than two-thirds of his life—could not have been the perpetrator.” Sullivan’s federal civil rights case is ongoing.
MARCH 3, 2025
SHANIES LAW SENIOR ASSOCIATE TRISTAN ELLIS PUBLISHED IN TEXAS LAW REVIEW
Shanies Law senior associate Tristan M. Ellis recently published a comprehensive analysis in the Texas Law Review Online: “Delivering” a Subpoena: What Constitutes “Good Service” Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45?, 103 Tex. L. Rev. Online 132 (2025), discussing how federal courts have interpreted the requirement in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45(b)(1) (“Rule 45”) that subpoenas be served by “delivering a copy to the named person.”
Mr. Ellis examines the “traditional rule” that subpoenas must be delivered by in-hand personal service, as well as the growing trend among courts to permit alternative methods of delivery that are reasonably calculated to ensure that a subpoenaed person or entity receives actual notice of a subpoena, such as certified mail. Mr. Ellis’s article highlights the ambiguity in Rule 45 that has created these diverging lines of cases and proposes a solution that would incorporate the service provisions of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 4 and 5 into Rule 45, making clear what “delivering a copy to the name person” means in specific situations and doing away with the “traditional rule.”
The article concludes by advising attorneys to ensure that subpoenas are personally served in accordance with the “traditional rule,” or to first seek the court’s permission before resorting to a different method of delivery.
FEBRUARY 3, 2025
David B. shanies speaks at federal bar council winter conference
The Federal Bar Council held its annual Winter Conference from February 2nd to 6th in Solidaridad, Mexico. Among the Continuing Legal Education Panels was a program on Wrongful Convictions, moderated by the Honorable Nina Morrison of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. David served as a panelist, along with attorneys Patricia Cummings and Alan Vinegrad and exoneree Jabbar Collins, discussing legal issues surrounding wrongful convictions and their impact on the federal courts.
