The Lawyer Who May Check Incoming Mayor Mamdani: New York Brief

Welcome back. While you were enjoying Thanksgiving, political plans were afoot.

Manhattan Councilwoman Julie Menin said she’s sewn up the votes to become City Council Speaker, a move that would put an ex-regulatory lawyer in the city’s second-most powerful perch.

Menin represents the Upper East Side and, if elected by fellow council members, would be the first Jewish speaker. She’s an ex-Wiley Rein attorney and Colgate-Palmolive’s former in-house counsel.

How would she bring her background to the gig? “Cities, often times, can take the lead when the federal government is deregulating,” she told me by phone Wednesday. “I think ...