Mayor Eric Adams appointed a new City Hall chief counsel on Wednesday, announcing that Lisa Zornberg will take over the important legal post beginning in August.
Zornberg, the former chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, will take over the job when current City Hall Chief Counsel Brendan McGuire steps down in coming weeks.
“Balancing safety and public safety, equity and fairness is crucial to this role. You need a great legal mind, and we must make sure we have that,” Adams said at a City Hall event on Wednesday afternoon. “I believe, and we all believe as a team, that we found that in Lisa. She has taken on the corrupt and the criminal — keeping our nation in our city safe. She’s a dedicated public servant.”
Zornberg, 52, worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for 14 years, including as chief of the criminal division from 2016 to 2018, where she supervised investigations and prosecutions by dozens of federal prosecutors.
Most recently, Zornberg has worked as a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton law firm. She clerked for Sonia Sotomayor in 1997, when Sotomayor—now a U.S. Supreme Court Justice—was a district court judge.
Born in Brooklyn, and educated at Harvard Law School, Zornberg will take over the key role that involves advising the city government on legal and political issues, while also overseeing 10 agencies.
“This is the greatest city in the world, and being able to serve New Yorkers as part of the Adams administration is exciting beyond words,” Zornberg said. “A government run with integrity and passion for solving real problems remains, in my view, the best way to lift up people and communities, and that’s what I’m here to do. I’m looking forward to putting everything I’ve learned and every skill I have to work on behalf of New Yorkers.”
When she assumes her post, Zornberg will be thrust into the many legal and political battles facing the Big Apple — including efforts to manage the Rikers Island prison facility, and dealing with the ongoing influx of asylum seekers flocking to New York.
On the Rikers Island front, New York City, led by Adams, is attempting to fend off efforts from the federal government to take over management of the facility that has seen a spike in on-site deaths and troubling conditions in the complex.
The migrant situation, meanwhile, has raised many issues surrounding the city’s “Right to Shelter” laws, with Adams attempting to scale back those guarantees due to the significant number of asylum seekers arriving in the five boroughs.
Zornberg will replace McGuire, who has served as City Hall chief counsel since Adams took office in January of 2022.
“I want to thank Brendan for his service to this city, and for being one of my most trusted advisors and a close friend. Since day one, he has been an independent thinker and he has never shied away from telling me like it is. He is a great legal mind, and he will be missed around City Hall,” Adams said.
