{"id":140938,"date":"2026-01-05T17:10:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/01\/05\/he-left-paul-weiss-on-principle-now-hes-in-charge-of-new-york-citys-legal-future\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T17:10:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:10:59","slug":"he-left-paul-weiss-on-principle-now-hes-in-charge-of-new-york-citys-legal-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/01\/05\/he-left-paul-weiss-on-principle-now-hes-in-charge-of-new-york-citys-legal-future\/","title":{"rendered":"He Left Paul, Weiss On Principle. Now He\u2019s In Charge Of New York City\u2019s Legal Future."},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City\u2019s Law Department is about to get a serious (and overdue) reboot. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced last week<\/a> that Steven Banks will take the helm as Corporation Counsel, pairing the appointment with an ambitious plan to expand the department by at least 200 lawyers.<\/p>\n

Mamdani didn\u2019t mince words about the current state of affairs. \u201cThere\u2019s a clear need for a few hundred additional lawyers at the Law Department, just from the beginning of it,\u201d he said, pointing to the growing need for legal services for immigrant New Yorkers. He added that the Law Department, once \u201con the front lines of equal rights across the country,\u201d has been \u201chollowed out\u201d in recent years. His goal? A Law Department that is fully staffed, assertive, and unapologetically engaged in advancing the administration\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n

Enter Banks, whose r\u00e9sum\u00e9 reads like a blueprint for exactly that kind of transformation. Banks spent three decades at the Legal Aid Society, building a career around public service and impact litigation. Banks spent eight years in NYC government too, as\u00a0commissioner of the New York City Department of Social Services under Mayor Bill de Blasio. Most recently, he led the pro bono department at Paul, Weiss, where he was responsible for steering one of Biglaw\u2019s most powerful institutional resources toward public-interest work.<\/p>\n

And then came the Trump deal.<\/p>\n

Banks didn\u2019t quietly shuffle along when Paul, Weiss capitulated <\/a>to Donald Trump, striking a deal that promised the president $40 million in pro bono services. Instead, he very publicly quit<\/a> in a move that spoke volumes about his professional priorities. In a legal market that too often treats \u201cprinciples\u201d as optional when powerful interests come calling, Banks made it clear that his weren\u2019t for sale.<\/p>\n

That makes him a fitting choice to lead a Law Department that Mamdani wants back on offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know firsthand the key role that the staff of the Law Department can play in supporting [Mamdani\u2019s] vision and agenda for transformative change,\u201d Banks said, emphasizing that the job is ultimately about helping New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

In an era when too many institutions are shrinking back, cutting deals, or retreating into defensive crouches, New York City is signaling something different. With Steven Banks at the helm, the Law Department looks poised to become a legal engine for the public good.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post He Left Paul, Weiss On Principle. Now He\u2019s In Charge Of New York City\u2019s Legal Future.<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tZohran Mamdani announced new appointments to his administration, including Steven Banks as the city’s top lawyer. (Photo by Selcuk Acar\/Anadolu via Getty Images)\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New York City\u2019s Law Department is about to get a serious (and overdue) reboot. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced last week<\/a> that Steven Banks will take the helm as Corporation Counsel, pairing the appointment with an ambitious plan to expand the department by at least 200 lawyers.<\/p>\n

Mamdani didn\u2019t mince words about the current state of affairs. \u201cThere\u2019s a clear need for a few hundred additional lawyers at the Law Department, just from the beginning of it,\u201d he said, pointing to the growing need for legal services for immigrant New Yorkers. He added that the Law Department, once \u201con the front lines of equal rights across the country,\u201d has been \u201chollowed out\u201d in recent years. His goal? A Law Department that is fully staffed, assertive, and unapologetically engaged in advancing the administration\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n

Enter Banks, whose r\u00e9sum\u00e9 reads like a blueprint for exactly that kind of transformation. Banks spent three decades at the Legal Aid Society, building a career around public service and impact litigation. Banks spent eight years in NYC government too, as\u00a0commissioner of the New York City Department of Social Services under Mayor Bill de Blasio. Most recently, he led the pro bono department at Paul, Weiss, where he was responsible for steering one of Biglaw\u2019s most powerful institutional resources toward public-interest work.<\/p>\n

And then came the Trump deal.<\/p>\n

Banks didn\u2019t quietly shuffle along when Paul, Weiss capitulated <\/a>to Donald Trump, striking a deal that promised the president $40 million in pro bono services. Instead, he very publicly quit<\/a> in a move that spoke volumes about his professional priorities. In a legal market that too often treats \u201cprinciples\u201d as optional when powerful interests come calling, Banks made it clear that his weren\u2019t for sale.<\/p>\n

That makes him a fitting choice to lead a Law Department that Mamdani wants back on offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know firsthand the key role that the staff of the Law Department can play in supporting [Mamdani\u2019s] vision and agenda for transformative change,\u201d Banks said, emphasizing that the job is ultimately about helping New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

In an era when too many institutions are shrinking back, cutting deals, or retreating into defensive crouches, New York City is signaling something different. With Steven Banks at the helm, the Law Department looks poised to become a legal engine for the public good.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York City\u2019s Law Department is about to get a serious (and overdue) reboot. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced last week that Steven Banks will take the helm as Corporation Counsel, pairing the appointment with an ambitious plan to expand the department by at least 200 lawyers. Mamdani didn\u2019t mince words about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":140939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-sHfJz2.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}