Mamdani Legal Aide Looks for Non-Prosecutors as Next City Judges

Ali Najmi, a top adviser to New York City’s mayor, says he’s looking to move away from the tradition of largely hiring prosecutors and court clerks to become judges.

“The legal community is much bigger than that,” Najmi told Bloomberg Law. “There’s an applicant pool that’s going to increase from what it’s traditionally been. The best judges are the ones who have been through the fire, understand what it’s like to try a case, have represented clients and have seen how the outcomes of these cases affect people.”

Najmi’s role as chairman of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary is little-known outside the city legal world, but it’s through Najmi that Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, can put his biggest stamp on the New York City judiciary. Najmi’s committee is tasked with vetting and recommending attorneys for the mayor to appoint to the criminal and family courts in New York City. (City civil judges are elected except for vacancies.)

And Najmi’s role in Mamdani’s orbit goes beyond the committee. Najmi, 41, served as the 34-year-old mayor’s election lawyer during Mamdani’s come-from-behind campaign and describes Mamdani as his brother.

Their friendship dates back to Najmi’s unsuccessful campaign in 2015 for a New York City Council seat that Mamdani volunteered on after reading about in The Village Voice. “I took the first crack at it; he perfected it,” Najmi said of their work in politics.

Different Background

Mamdani appointed Najmi to chair the committee on Jan. 2, saying there is “no one better” to lead an effort to make the vetting and selection process more transparent.

Both are the first Muslims in their respective positions and don’t have resumes of conventional stepping stones to power. The past three mayors tapped a seasoned ex-judge or US attorney to chair the committee. Najmi, after briefly working for the New York City Council, has been in private practice handling election law, criminal defense, and civil rights cases.

That’s shaping his approach. “We need people who are committed to fairness and are not blinded by their past experiences of either being a prosecutor or a second prosecutor on the bench,” he said. (By the latter, he said, he was referring to judges who instinctively take the side of the prosecution.)

A 2025 study in the Journal of Law and Courts analyzing nearly 70,000 New York City criminal court arraignments found 84 of the judges had a law enforcement background, 41 had worked in an indigent legal service organization, 5 had both in their backgrounds, and 58 had neither.

Ali Najmi and Zohran Mamdani during Mamdani’s 2020 Assembly campaign.

Courtesy of Ali Najmi

Mamdani was backed early and often by the city’s public defenders, while Big Law — which had largely donated to then-rival former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — was left in the wilderness by his insurgent victory.

Steven Fulop, president of the Partnership for New York City — the pro-business group that counts a host of large law firms among its members — said in a statement: “Judicial appointments signal to businesses that the Administration takes their safety concerns seriously. I have not yet had a chance to meet with the new chair, but I look forward to a conversation about keeping fair and reasonable judges on the bench.”

The District Attorneys Association of the State of New York declined to comment.

‘It Mattered Who You Knew’

To be sure, Najmi said he’s not precluding prosecutors, but he rattled off an alternative pool to sift through, including public defenders and lawyers who work for other indigent legal service groups, as well as solo practitioners and those at small firms.

While one of his first meetings is with Bronx public defenders, Najmi said he’s also soon meeting with Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.

Mamdani’s campaign was fueled in part by his social media savvy. Najmi is now hoping to expand the committee’s presence on social media in order to drive interest, in addition to making the rounds with a large roster of legal groups.

A special counsel at Liakas Law who also maintains his own practice, Najmi said he’s no longer taking criminal or family court cases in New York City while chair — which is unpaid — to avoid any appearance of a conflict. He also said he wouldn’t appear before any judges the committee has selected, and he’s working on a similar ethics code for the rest of the committee.

“Najmi’s rule is appropriate,” said Stephen Gillers, an NYU legal ethics professor.

The city’s judge selection process been criticized from all sides, with accusations that it lacks transparency and promotes political patronage. Even some who made it through the process say it’s not a great one.

“It seemed like it mattered who you knew,” said New York Supreme Court Judge Karen Gopee, a Najmi ally who was first appointed to the bench in 2015. “It was not always certain that each application got a fair reading.”

It remains to be seen how much will change. Mamdani’s first three judicial picks were ex-prosecutors, though those came from a group vetted under ex-Mayor Eric Adams.

While Najmi is hoping to expand the traditional pool, he said he doesn’t want judges who are anti-prosecutor, either. “They just need to call ball and strikes,” he said.