NYC’s New Top Lawyer Skeptical of Big Law Firms With Trump Deals

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s newly installed head lawyer for the city, Steve Banks, is looking to build a more muscular Law Department that boosts the progressive mayor’s agenda.

But Big Law firms that made deals with the Trump administration aren’t likely to be partners with the city.

Asked if the city would work with firms that struck such agreements with the administration, he suggested in an interview with Bloomberg Law that those firms are not in a position to help with his goals: “Given the agreements that were made, there may not be the kind of legal assistance the city needs that those firms can provide.”

Banks, confirmed last week as corporation counsel, parted ways with Paul Weiss as its pro bono chief last year after the New York firm struck an agreement with President Donald Trump for $40 million in pro bono legal services to support the administration’s goals.

“When the choice was between my principles and my employment, I chose my principles,” he said. “I made the choice that I wanted to be back in the front lines, rather than be constrained by the agreement.”

Banks said that he is also looking to grow his agency’s headcount — already among the country’s largest municipal law departments at some 760 attorneys — saying staffing reductions in recent years have increased the workloads of agency lawyers.

As he undertakes a review of the agency’s pending matters to see if they “align with the values” of the Mamdani administration, he’s found areas where he’ll deviate from Eric Adams’ administration.

For example, the city is reversing its position on a law that restricts solitary confinement at Rikers Island. Banks said he’ll implement the law that the Adams administration opposed.

The former head of The Legal Aid Society, Banks has spent much of his career challenging the city in court. His past work includes representing the Coalition for the Homeless in a settlement preserving New York City’s right-to-shelter law after the Adams administration sought to suspend it.

As he finds himself now representing the agency he once challenged, he says tenants’ rights and workers’ rights are areas for litigation the city can bring. “The mayor is laser-focused on transformational change,” he said.

But the department will also be playing defense. Banks takes over as the city fights against the federal government in court to maintain its sanctuary city policies, implement its congestion pricing initiative, and maintain access to school grants withheld by the Trump administration over the schools’ policies on transgender students.

He declined to say if he’s preparing for more litigation on the horizon with the Trump administration: “I’ve always been a lawyer to address what’s in front of me, and right now what’s in front of me is looking at the cases we’ve got, making sure they’re appropriately staffed, and making sure the positions we’re taking in them are aligned with the values of the administration and ultimately, the best interests of New York City.”