About Us
David B. Calender was admitted to the Bar of Jamaica, W.I., in September 1985 and has been a member of the New York Bar since December 1988. He is licensed to practice in all New York State courts as well as the United States (Federal) District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.
A native of Jamaica, W.I., Mr. Calender is a graduate of Jamaica College (1972-79) and University of the West Indies, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB.) with Honors in 1983. He completed his legal training at Noman Manley Law School at Mona Campus, Jamaica (1983-85), and was called to the Jamaican Bar in September 1985.
From 1985 to 1986 Mr. Calender was an Assistant Crown Counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers in Kingston, Jamaica, during which he acted for the Government of Jamaica as trial counsel in civil cases brought against government officials and employees.
Mr. Calender migrated to the United States in December 1986 and was admitted to the New York Bar in December 1988. Shortly after his admission, Mr. Calender was hired by the New York City Transit Authority as an Associate Attorney, where from 1989 he prepared hundreds of case files for trial, conducted depositions, and argued pre-trial motions in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Staten Island. In 1992 he was promoted to the Bronx Trial Unit. There, as trial counsel, he had an impressive run of successful jury verdicts in New York Supreme Court, Bronx County, until 1996 when he began his career as a private practitioner.
In 1996 Mr. Calender resigned from the Transit Authority and joined the Manhattan law firm of Dunn & Smith -- an elite Wall Street-area litigation firm headed by minorities, among them the renowned criminal law trial specialist, Jamaican-born Oliver A. Smith. A year later, Mr. Calender established his own law practice in Bayside, Queens, New York. There he has advised and represented clients in cases ranging from routine commercial, personal injury and family law cases to complex litigation involving legal issues with which few trial lawyers can claim familiarity. He relocated his practice from Queens to Valley Stream (Long Island), New York in February 2012.
Since1997, David B.Calender has continued to win many jury verdicts as a sole practitioner, alternatively representing plaintiffs and defendants, in a variety of cases, including personal injury, divorce, breach of contract and other commercial cases, mortgage foreclosure, criminal defense, and deportation defense. Besides his successful verdicts, Mr. Calender has won numerous “out-of-court” settlements in favor of his clients -- often on the eve of jury selection and even during trial.
With his more than 20 years of experience, proven courtroom skills and track record (as reported in publications such as the New York Jury Verdict Reporter and local newspapers), David B. Calender devotes his law practice to providing his clients with a fighting chance in all aspects of the law.
David B. Calender is a member of the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association and New York State Trial Lawyers Association.