PUBLICATION: Long Island Business News
DATE: May 9-15, 2003 Issue
ARTICLE: Lawyer of Last Resort
by Rosamaria Mancini
When Stephen Scaring peers across his desk, looking back may be an accused murderer or rapist.
But the attorney rarely blinks.
Scaring defended Nassau developer Gerald Monter when he faced a murder charge, former New York Knick Dave DeBusschere when he was charged with drunken driving and publicist Lizzie Grubman, after she backed her SUV into a crowd at a Hamptons bar.
Scaring’s track record has made him a magnet for clients at the end of their rope. When things seem hopeless, high profile defendants come knocking.
“The negative effect is that people don’t call you because they think you’re too busy, and the positive is the notoriety, when you win, you have an acquittal, you work out a deal, you get a lot of call,” said Scaring.
The slim 61-year-old, who resides in Lloyd Harbor, doesn’t mind being dubbed a “celebrity” lawyer and says cases, such as Grubman’s, while more difficult because of the public opinion involved, are “very exciting.”
A solo practitioner, he’s currently working on about 15 cases, including the retrial of New York City Police Department Sergeant William Miley. Miley faces charges including second degree manslaughter and operating a motor vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol after his car allegedly slammed into the rear of another vehicle stopped at a light in Uniondale. That accident killed two and injured three.
“I work to get that person, [his client] a good deal,” said Scaring. “I can try the case and get them an acquittal and I can put their life together and make it better than when they walked into my office.”
At the same time, Scaring’s cordial manner and measured tone can’t disguise an intense combativeness he sums up in five simple words: “Winning is everything, losing sucks.”
Scaring, who has been practicing law for about 30 years, can claim victories including a neurologist acquitted of fondling patients, a college student acquitted of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse, a police officer acquitted of attempted murder. The list goes on. His formula for success doesn’t include the use of cutting edge technology, such as flat screens or video conferencing.
-Long Island Business News