Gotham Gazette

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Law Department

Law Department

  • City Law Department Defends Approach to Lawsuits Over NYPD Misconduct

    Corporation Counsel Sylvia Hinds-Radix (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


     

    With the NYPD costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars every year in lawsuit settlements over misconduct claims, City Council members on Wednesday questioned the city’s Law Department about its approach to defending the police department and whether the city could benefit from being less combative when taken to court for police misconduct.

    A Legal Aid Society ...

  • Charter Revision Commission Hears Expert Testimony on Public Advocate's Office, Law Department, Ranked-Choice Voting

    charter2019nyc pub adv

    (photo: @Charter2019NYC)


    Three former New York City Public Advocates argued for strengthening the powers of the office. Former and current Law Department officials defended the agency’s independence. Experts on city government argued for and against expanding the powers of non-mayoral elected officials. And a Board of Elections official detailed the logistics of implementing ranked-choice voting in New York City.

    Those were the broad themes of a Monday night hearing held at the City Council chambers by the 2019 Charter Revision Commission,

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  • Law Department Issues Warning as Community Boards Consider Charter Commission's Term Limits Proposal

    Mayor town hall

    (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)


    One of three questions placed on this year’s general election ballot by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s charter revision commission would, if approved by voters, impose term limits on community board members. Though the proposal has left many community board members fuming about the potential impact, the city’s Law Department has sought to remind the boards that they cannot pass official resolutions taking a position on a ballot question.

    In a September 13 memo sent to the director of the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit,

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  • Law Department Budget Hearing Focuses on De Blasio Administration Legal Defense

    de blasio aides courtyard

    Mayor de Blasio & aides in a courtyard (photo: Mayor's Office on flickr)


    The investigations into Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration have cost the city $10.5 million in outside legal defense spending so far, and might cost millions more, said Corporation Counsel Zachary Carter at a City Council preliminary budget hearing on Monday.

    Carter, who heads the city’s Law Department, testified before the Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations that the state and federal investigations into the mayor

    ...
  • Additional Information Means 'Ongoing Investigation' into Rivington Deal

    BdB holds paper hearing

    Mayor de Blasio (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    A bureaucratic procedure gone wrong has turned out to be a major headache for Mayor Bill de Blasio that refuses to go away. Even after two recent and damning investigative reports, one city agency maintains its investigation is "ongoing" given newly turned over information and the state Attorney General is still looking into the matter.

    The lifting of deed restrictions on Rivington House, a nursing home on the Lower East Side of Manhattan,

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  • Without Key Stakeholders, Administration Supports Council Police Misconduct Bill

    jumaane williams

    Council Member Jumaane Williams (photo: William Alatriste)


    The City Council’s Committee on Oversight and Investigations heard a bill on Tuesday, sponsored by Council Member Jumaane Williams, which would require centralized reporting of data on police misconduct from multiple agencies to identify systemic problems and help create an early intervention system for the NYPD. To the disappointment of Williams and others, though, key stakeholders to be affected by the bill and instrumental in implementing it if it becomes law, were not

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  • Government Operations Budget Hearing Leaves Several Questions Unanswered

    DCAS testimony May 13

    DCAS testimony (photo: William Alatriste)


    With four agencies testifying over the course of several hours, a Friday executive budget hearing held by the City Council’s governmental operations committee, along with the finance committee, had a lot of ground to cover on important issues like election administration and law department function. Two of the agencies testifying have even been sources of controversy in recent months and the hearing was an opportunity for Council members to air their concerns and get some answers. At many points during the hearing, however,

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