NEW YORK – Dean Razavi, an incoming first-year associate at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, has claimed his first litigation victory before even setting foot in his law firm.

Mr. Razavi, a third-year student at the University of Virginia School of Law who will practice in Katten’s New York office beginning in Fall 2010, won an appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va. on April 30. The federal appellate court vacated the lower court’s decision and ruled in favor of federal inmate Nicholas Omar Tucker on his appeal of a 15-year sentence due to ineffective assistance of counsel. Mr. Tucker’s case had come to the University of Virginia’s Appellate Litigation Clinic last year, and Mr. Razavi and co-counsel Ellen Valentine took the case in September.

Mr. Tucker had been sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act for possessing a firearm and ammunition following the commitment of three or more violent felonies. In his appeal, Mr. Tucker contended that his original counsel failed to object to the inclusion of a prior assault and battery conviction as one of the three violent felonies. The earlier case had involved only a misdemeanor charge of common-law assault and battery and was not a felony conviction. The district court held that Mr. Tucker had not been prejudiced by his counsel’s performance.

Last March, Mr. Razavi successfully argued the appeal before the 4th Circuit. The 4th Circuit determined that the failure by Mr. Tucker’s counsel to object to the inclusion of that conviction was “objectively unreasonable under professional standards.” The case has been sent back to the district court for resentencing.

“The experience was very eye-opening,” said Mr. Razavi. “I’ve done lots of moot court arguments that boil down to a single issue. But this was a living, breathing case where you have to deal with all of the elements on the fly in 20 minutes.”

So what does his victory mean to Mr. Razavi? “It’s pretty incredible,” he says. “It gives me an edge during a difficult transition from law school to practicing law.”

Mr. Razavi was a summer associate in 2009 in Katten’s New York office where he worked under the direction of co-hiring partner Michael Gordon.

“His achievement does not surprise me,” said Mr. Gordon. “I feel he’s ahead of his years in terms of his analytical skills, his research and his writing. To succeed before an appellate panel, you need to be able to think on your feet, and Dean clearly has demonstrated an ability to do this as well. I look forward to him becoming a colleague.”

Mr. Razavi, who graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 2007 where he studied music and political science, will pursue a practice in the Litigation Department when he joins Katten in the Fall.