New York City's top lawyer says his office is in the middle of a hiring surge, bringing in roughly 200 additional attorneys as the city fights off a stack of lawsuits challenging some of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's most prominent policies. Corporation Counsel Steven Banks laid out the expansion and the Law Department's legal strategy while discussing about half a dozen policy fights currently playing out in court, from a second-home tax to a city-run grocery store plan.
Banks made the remarks as he detailed how the expanded Law Department has helped defend Mamdani's signature policies in court, according to amNewYork. He said the office currently has about 785 lawyers and is bringing in roughly 200 more, giving the department, in his words, 200 additional lawyers and much more work ahead. Banks described the Law Department as a great law firm with strong litigation, transactional lawyering and legal advising, per the same account.
The staffing push tracks with what the city previously laid out in its own budget planning. The proposed city budget included 200 new attorney lines and 100 professional support lines for the Law Department, according to a statement from Corporation Counsel Steven Banks to the City Council. The proposal included 200 attorney lines and 100 professional support lines.
A Department Reshaped Around Four Strategies
Banks described the Law Department as pursuing transformational change under Mamdani through four main actions: settling lawsuits on favorable terms for the city, re-examining policies that led to litigation in the first place, defending new policies when the department considers that the right call, and bringing its own affirmative cases, the AmNewYork report states. He also said the department was embracing and respecting its norms, practices and traditions while making way for new views and perspectives.
That affirmative side of the docket includes a lawsuit the city filed against a personal injury law firm. The City of New York has filed suit against Manhattan law firm Asher & Associates, P.C. and its principals for running a personal injury fraud scheme, according to the New York City Law Department. Per amNewYork's account of Banks's remarks, the city's racketeering lawsuit alleges the firm filed claims involving scooter, moped and bicycle accidents attributed to roadway defects, while evidence allegedly indicated other causes of injury. Banks said the facts of the case justified the legal strategy and that the action sought to stop taxpayers from paying out money over alleged abuse.
Not everyone agrees with that approach. The New York State Trial Lawyers Association has argued that racketeering cases have been used by insurers to chill legitimate personal injury and workers' compensation claims, amNewYork reported.
Fighting Over the Rent Freeze and the Second-Home Tax
Two of the administration's highest-profile fights involve housing costs. The Rent Guidelines Board decided to freeze rents for stabilized tenants for the next year, and the city is now defending a lawsuit by landlords seeking to overturn that freeze, according to amNewYork's reporting on Banks's remarks. Landlords suing over the freeze have alleged the Mamdani administration pressured the Rent Guidelines Board to prioritize tenants' concerns, though released communications do not show Mamdani or a member of his team explicitly directing board members to approve a rent freeze, The New York Times reported.
Banks also oversees the Law Department's defense of Mamdani's pied-à-terre tax on high-end second homes, a fight that has already hit a legal snag. A state supreme court judge found the rollout of the tax legally deficient, per amNewYork, while plaintiffs in Suffolk County are separately challenging the tax on constitutional grounds. The New York Times reported that a Staten Island judge found the city had mishandled the rollout of the tax on high-end second homes and ordered it to start over, though that lawsuit did not challenge the legality of the tax itself.
Grocery Stores and a Growing Housing Docket
The city is also defending antitrust litigation over its plan to open city-run grocery stores, amNewYork reported. Banks said the notion that five city grocery stores would destroy an industry made up of roughly 1,000 supermarkets and grocery stores was implausible, according to the outlet's account. That fight follows a class-action lawsuit the Multicultural Business Coalition filed against Mamdani and the city seeking to stop the grocery-store plan, which CNN described as at least the third time a signature affordability proposal from Mamdani's administration has faced a legal challenge.
Beyond the courtroom fights, the Law Department also negotiates real estate contracts for housing and public development projects and works toward Mamdani's affordability mandate by helping create more housing, per amNewYork's report. Banks, who previously served for 33 years as attorney in chief of the Legal Aid Society and earlier led the city's Department of Social Services under Mayor Bill de Blasio, was confirmed as corporation counsel by a 42-6 City Council vote with one abstention, according to a separate amNewYork report on his confirmation. At the time, Banks said he wanted to work with Mamdani on hiring hundreds of attorneys despite budget constraints, in order to restore staffing at a department he said had been hollowed out.
Context From the CityLaw Breakfast
Banks's comments on the department's expansion came as he discussed roughly half a dozen policy fights at the CityLaw Breakfast, held at New York Law School, amNewYork reported. The event itself was billed as the 206th CityLaw Breakfast, with Banks set to speak on institutional reform and the role of the Law Department, according to citylandnyc.org. New York Law School Dean Anthony W. Crowell and Ross Sandler, founding director of the Center for New York City and State Law, were slated to give opening remarks, per the same listing.
As corporation counsel, Banks leads the Law Department as its 83rd person to hold the post, overseeing more than 760 attorneys and 685 support professionals across 24 divisions, according to the city's Law Department. With the new hires layered on top of that base, Banks's remarks suggest the office is betting that a bigger legal team will be central to keeping Mamdani's affordability agenda standing up in court.
