Maria DeCastro

Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Maria worked as senior counsel and the trial team supervisor for the Labor and Employment Division of the New York City Law Department. At the Law Department, Maria represented the City of New York in its role as employer and handled a broad range of employment litigation matters, including from single- and multiplaintiff discrimination cases. Maria was also responsible for the supervision of employment-related trials filed against the City of New York, its agencies, and its employees. Not only did Maria supervise trials, she also successfully tried, as lead counsel, three federal employment discrimination trials in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. One resulted in a full defense verdict, another in a one-dollar plaintiff’s verdict, and the other in dismissal for plaintiff’s fraud on the court. Maria discovered the evidence that was used to demonstrate that the plaintiff’s claims were fraudulent.

Prior to joining the Labor and Employment Division at the New York City Law Department, Maria served as senior counsel at the Special Federal Litigation Division of the New York City Law Department. There she defended the City of New York and its agents against various 42 USC § 1983 actions by handling all aspects of litigation. In that role, Maria tried nine federal jury trials to verdict, six as lead counsel, yielding six full defense verdicts and three mixed verdicts. 

Maria is regularly recognized for her achievements in practicing law. In 2015, Maria was recognized as Rookie of the Year by the New York City Law Department. In 2018, she was awarded the Special Federal Litigation Division Chief Award for outstanding service on behalf of the City of New York. That same year, Maria also received an award from the New York City Law Department for her pro bono work representing immigrant families at a detention center in Dilley, Texas. In 2019, Maria received the New York City Bar Association’s Municipal Affairs Award for outstanding achievement as an assistant corporation counsel.

Maria has also presented CLE lectures on the topic of Qualified Immunity and has taught trial advocacy skills as an instructor through the New York City Law Department’s National Institute Trial Advocacy Program.

Maria is a native Spanish speaker. She was born in Colombia and raised in Queens, New York. 

• Handled high-profile police and corrections cases, including serving as lead counsel in the matter of the Estate of Deborah Danner v. City of New York et al., 18-CV-332 (NRB)