In just fifteen years as a trial lawyer, Westchester's Montgomery Delaney - former US Marine and NYPD cop, one-time high school teacher and coach, and accomplished singer/songwriter - is already one of Southern New York's best known, most effective and certainly most memorable courtroom attorneys. With a New York City pedigree borne of the streets of the South Bronx, and an always-authentic, never-intimidated presence (afforded in part by a strapping six-foot six-inch frame), Delaney brings innate skills to trial law. For starters, he's a natural connector, with jurors and clients alike. And he's fearless: Delaney was once jailed briefly ("It was only a few hours") when he stood up to a judge whose actions, Delaney felt, were compromising his client's right to a fair settlement. Peers regard Delaney, now in his early 50s, as a passionate, colorful yet credible force; he's a trial lawyer fiercely proud of his unique path to the profession. "I don't know too many lawyers who've gotten here the way I have," he says today. "I hope that the road I have taken has made me a better lawyer." Growing up in the Highbridge Section of the South Bronx ("It was all Irish when I was a kid, but became a lot more diverse over the years"), Monty Delaney was the fourth of five children; his father was a truck driver for the Post Office, his mother, an amputee from a pedestrian accident, was a switchboard operator - "Try raising five kids on one leg; she was the greatest example of courage and integrity I ever knew. She gave me a conscience and instilled in me a sense of right and wrong, of justice and injustice." At All Hallows High School, he began to love sports and while there, a teacher -- Bernard O'Toole -- instilled in him an appreciation for reading. By his own admission he was not a scholar; during his freshman year as a varsity athlete at Dominican College, "I majored in partying." On his basketball coach Bob Macken's urging, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Aptitude tests steered Delaney into technical work, and for several years, he traveled the world as a Marine Corps Electronics Technician, repairing all types of radio equipment and other communication devices (There too he learned to play the guitar, and by his late 20s he became an accomplished singer and songwriter. His well produced CDs still circulate www.montgomerydelaney.com). He returned to college, earned his B.A. and joined the NYPD, patrolling the streets where he'd grown up. Street patrols for uniformed officers were "dangerous every shift" amid the 80s crack cocaine epidemic. Once he was accused of using excessive force, in a high-profile case in which the city, under intense political pressure, made a large financial settlement even though the city fully indemnified his actions. Delaney was less embittered than you'd expect, but it impacted his career by bolstering his decision to attend law school. A serious back injury, from a fall down a flight of stairs, led to a disability discharge. ("When people come to me today and say they have back problems, I can always relate.") By '88 he was already attending law school at night, mindful that "a law degree would help me move up in the ranks." For a few years he coached baseball and basketball at Salesian High School in New Rochelle, helping the teams win City and State championships. Beginning his legal practice, he was hired by a Westchester insurance-defense firm, learning the defense side of civil law, but he grew disenchanted with defending insurance companies, whose hardball tactics to avoid legitimate claims struck him as immoral. "At the end of the day you have to feel good about what you do." He joined a small White Plains plaintiff's personal injury practice and was taught the ropes by a seasoned attorney who could "run to the courthouse with a few Polaroids and an accident report and get a verdict for his client, but also knew how to prepare a complex case for trial." In 2004, he partnered with Alfred Laub, esq. Their firm, Laub Delaney LLP flourished for seven years. In 2012, Delaney struck out on his own, and Montgomery Delaney, P.C. is a classic independent plaintiffs' firm, carefully selecting cases, from medical malpractice to premises liability to even - yes - the occasional police liability case. He's proud of helping people in the face of negligence and unfairness. In many respects he's entering his professional prime; and recently remarried (he's the father of three "wonderful" children from his first marriage), he and his wife recently welcomed their second child, and are living yet another new chapter. "I've lived my life determined to turn negatives into positives," he says. "And you know what? That's the way I work for my clients today; that's what I try to do for them."