Letitia James, a resident of Brooklyn, was ranked first on City & State New York’s list of the “2023 Law Power 100,” which was published on Monday and highlighted the borough’s legal giants in politics.
The list includes noteworthy, elected officials, strong prosecutors, high-ranking appointees, partners at illustrious law firms, defense lawyers, public defenders, legal scholars, and other members of the legal community who counsel or oversee governmental bodies, fight for policy changes, or present cases before the highest courts. Letitia James, the state’s attorney general, is at the top of the list, followed by Breon Peace, an assistant U.S. attorney, State Court of Appeals judges, and other renowned attorneys.
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According to City & State, James was at the top of their list because he successfully prosecuted The Trump Organization on tax fraud charges and took on other high-profile cases including gun dealers and the cryptocurrency sector.
The list’s No. 2 slot went to Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for New York’s Eastern District, along with the other federal prosecutors from the State. By achieving convictions in well-known instances like the R. Kelly sexual abuse trial and the Brooklyn subway shooting, he has built a name for himself.
Eric Gonzalez, the district attorney for New York City, was listed at No. 8, while Hon. Sylvia Hinds-Radix, the city’s corporation counsel, was placed No. 6.
In the first quarter of 2022, Mayor Eric Adams of New York City named Hon. Hinds-Radix, a former Administrative Judge of the Kings County Supreme Court and Appellate Division Judge for the Second Judicial Department, as Corporation Counsel of the New York City Law Department. She is currently in charge of the city’s 850-attorney Law Department, which defends the city, the mayor, the city council, and different departments. This is an important position in the Adams administration.
Hinds-Radix has been active in her position; she filed a lawsuit to ban internet ghost gun sellers from selling in Fresh York City, won the case against Con Edison over its property tax proposal, and she just started a new campaign to combat unauthorized marijuana sales in the area. She has also contributed to the development and defense of the administration’s strategy for removing mentally ill homeless people off the streets.
On the other hand, district attorneys have a lot of influence in New York because they have the discretion to determine which offenses they want to concentrate on and how zealously to pursue convictions or support progressive changes. The 62 district attorneys in New York are elected officials that represent a wide spectrum of stakeholders and voters, with different priorities based on the county or borough they are assigned to.
Gonzalez took over the position in 2017. He has concentrated on lowering gun violence in Brooklyn, promoting supervised injection facilities, and lowering recidivism through diversionary measures. He also oversees the office’s Conviction Review Unit, which since its establishment in 2014 has overturned 35 convictions. Gonzalez has thrown out 378 convictions associated with dishonest NYPD cops and thwarted a cross-state sex trafficking scheme.
Anthony Cannataro, Michael Garcia, Madeline Singas, Shirley Troutman, Jenny Rivera, and Rowan Wilson, who sit on the State Court of Appeals, were ranked No. 4 on the list. Jonathan Lippman, a former Chief Judge, was ranked No (Hon. Janet DiFiore did not appear at all on the list). No. 25 on the list was the Honorable Tamiko Amaker, Acting Chief Administrative Judge.
Other famous residents of Brooklyn include Claire Rush (No. 75), trustee of the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association, Ken Fisher (No. 32), former Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman (No. 33), and Arthur Aidala (No. 26), former president of the Brooklyn Bar Association.
