Mineola Law Firm Reels in Big Names and Big Cases

What do Brett Favre and Justin Bieber have to do with a Mineola law firm?

It turns out that both media icons - at least indirectly - had dealings with the law firm of , located at 300 Old Country Road.

In the Bieber case, Scott "Scooter" Braun, the manager for the teen idol, was in which he failed to post a Twitter message informing thousands of fans that a Bieber appearance had been canceled. Attorney Joseph Conway represented Braun, contending that he did all he could to keep arriving fans safe.

A more recent case involves Jenn Sterger, the former New York Jets employee who is alleged to have received inappropriate video and text messages from quarterback Brett Favre when he played for the Jets. After news surfaced about the text messages, Sterger retained LaRusso & Conway in what is still an ongoing NFL investigation. Sterger and Conway met with NFL investigators. The case is still pending. LaRusso & Conway (attorneys Robert LaRusso, Joseph Conway and Nancy Bartling) have been involved with several other medium- to high-profile cases over the years.

They range from a fake charity that swingled donors out of $500,000, to a Muttontown husband-wife coupled accused of slavery. Almost all of the cases received extensive media coverage. So while you might expect that this law firm is a glutton for media attention, that would not be the case. "The publicity is good because it raises your awareness but it is how you treat the client that is going to sustain your business for the long haul," Conway said. "Our goal is to service the client's needs. Our credibility is what we have here and there is no substitute for that."

In October 2004, LaRusso and Conway left the U.S. Attorney's Office to start their own practice on Willis Avenue in Mineola. At the time, Conway said they had "no idea" how business would come to them. "Initially you get a lot of references, and once you make your mark and get some results, you get more clients. Your name gets out there in the media," he said.

The Sterger referral came from an FBI contact, for example. Conway said the firm's attention and exposure has afforded it the luxury of "picking and choosing" cases. At this stage, the firm and its three attorneys are working on about 20 cases, at various stages of completion. "I am working harder now and longer hours than when I was a prosecutor," Conway said. "The good thing is it is your business. You have to find what works for you."

Their style is not to call in the media to highlight their cases. They have done it once, in the case of the Hicksville mom whose daughter choked on a carrot at an unlicensed day- care center where she was working at the time but not informed of the tragedy until later. "Once you get a huge profile case you tend to get a little more notoriety," Conway said. Still, it's about the everyday challenges of the job that keeps them motivated. "Every case presents a different challenge. It keeps me up at night sometimes," Conway said. "Satisfaction is to know my clients and the clients of this firm get 100 percent of the best we can do."

Asked why a potential client should come to LaRusso & Conway, he said, "For the individual attention you get. You won't see five or 10 different people. You know who you are dealing with here. We are a service business. We feel we can go above and beyond."

In addition to his regular case load, Conway was retained by the Suffolk County Legislature to investigate how the county's Ethics Commission determined that County Executive Steve Levy could file a state rather than a county financial disclosure form.