New York City Mayor Eric Adams has chosen two women to replace top legal counsel positions in his administration.
The embattled mayor announced Tuesday that he intends to nominate Muriel Goode-Trufant as the new corporate counsel. Adams also said Allison Stoddart will replace Lisa Zornberg as City Hall's chief counsel following Lisa Zornberg's abrupt resignation amid federal investigations surrounding the mayor and his allies.
Goode-Trufant will be subjected to the City Council's approval just like Adams' first pick, Randy Maestro, a former top aide to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Maestro withdrew his name earlier this month following a long-winded hearing.
“I am humbled and honored by the intention to be nominated by Mayor Adams to serve as the city’s next corporation counsel,” Goode-Trufant said in the mayor's news release. “Through my more than three decades as an attorney at the New York City Law Department, I am keenly aware of the vital role the corporation counsel plays in New York City government.”
Goode-Trufant is no stranger to the city's law department. She began working there in 1991 as an attorney in the General Litigation Division, according to her biography. Before that, she was an associate at a Philadelphia law firm. The long-time attorney eventually became the agency’s Equal Employment Opportunity officer and then chief of the Special Federal Litigation Division.
In 2023, she became the first assistant corporation counsel.
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The corporate counsel role has been vacant for months since Hinds-Radix stepped down at the end of May. Her abrupt resignation was among the first senior administration officials to resign this year as federal probes swirl around City Hall.
As for Stoddart, who was formerly chief of staff under Zornberg, she will be stepping into her new role immediately and reporting directly to the mayor.
“I’ve been proud to serve as a chief of staff, and now, as chief counsel, to serve New York City. In this role, I will continue to collaborate with the many committed public servants who work so hard every day to shape the future of our city," Stoddart said in the mayor's announcement. "I look forward to continuing to work closely with newly-nominated Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant and the other members of the Law Department.”
Her predecessor said in her resignation letter she could no longer effectively serve in her role but did not go into further detail.
Adams has declined to elaborate on reports that Zornberg abruptly quit because he refused to push out some members of his inner circle who have been included in federal investigations, including aides who had their phones taken by the FBI.
