These legal professionals wield immense power in New York’s political environment – City & State’s 2022 Law Power 100 represents them all.
Alvin Bragg won one of the fiercest races to become Manhattan’s district attorney and quickly began taking on high-profile cases. Brendan McGuire and Sylvia Hinds-Radix hold key legal positions within city government while Edward Wallace provides advice to companies doing business before local governments.
Alvin Bragg
Raised in Harlem and educated at Harvard, he served as both a civil rights attorney and assistant US attorney before being elected district attorney of Manhattan. Under his tenure, his office undertook major reforms that prosecuted more gun violence cases while prioritizing community safety initiatives.
He led efforts within his office to combat worker theft, exploitation and tax fraud; prosecuting bad landlords and exploitative bosses alike. Furthermore, he advocated for increased support for survivors of sexual assault by creating the first ever victim services unit.
Trump also used this opportunity to retrial Harvey Weinstein in a case he has attacked as an unfair “witch hunt.” (The jury ultimately convicted Weinstein on one charge while clearing him on others).
Damian Williams
Williams remains humble despite his vast achievements, having clerked for both Merrick Garland and John Paul Stevens before dedicating himself to justice reform.
As one of the premier federal prosecutors for New York’s Southern District, Williams has successfully pursued white-collar prosecutions in financial markets and government institutions, helping secure conviction of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on corruption charges.
Williams also took on an important corruption case against crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried; however, his efforts could prove politically risky – lawmakers have accused Williams of acting out of political motivations when pursuing such cases.
Eric Gonzalez
As Brooklyn district attorney, Gonzalez has expanded on Ken Thompson’s reform agenda. Before his death from cancer in 2016, Thompson stopped prosecution of low-level marijuana offenses and established an independent review unit dedicated to overturning possible wrongful convictions.
Gonzalez also established a hate crimes bureau and successfully sued to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at his courthouses, yet his efforts in times of deep political division have drawn sharp criticism from law-and-order advocates.
Melinda Katz
As District Attorney of Queens County, Katz has prioritized keeping families safe by taking guns off the streets, addressing domestic violence, human trafficking and prosecuting cold cases. She established her office’s first Conviction Integrity Unit that has overturned 99 wrongful convictions; furthering relations with constituents in Queens.
Katz will face Republican George Grasso and Conservative Party candidate Michael Mossa in 2023 for reelection, though she has an edge thanks to having served in key governmental positions as State Assembly Member, City Council Member, and Borough President in her career thus far.
Sylvia Hinds-Radix
Hinds-Radix, born and raised in Brooklyn, currently heads the city’s Law Department as director and is responsible for representing Mayor de Blasio, other elected officials, City agencies and their employees in civil litigation matters. She is the first Caribbean woman ever appointed in this position.
On May 20, she will speak at New York Law School’s commencement ceremony and be awarded with their Civic Fame award, an accolade richly deserved for someone who has tirelessly advocated on behalf of New York during some of its toughest moments.
Brendan McGuire
McGuire is a partner at WilmerHale’s white-collar practice and has served as chief prosecutor in cases ranging from Somali pirates and Russian arms dealers to corrupt City bureaucrats and Somali pirates. Additionally, he led WilmerHale’s Public Corruption Unit which pursued politicians who crossed legal lines.
Hinman Straub provides advice to clients with business before state government. A leading Albany lobbyist, he has worked on matters relating to health care, insurance and tech as well as cases involving terrorism, money laundering and economic sanctions; most recently defending Mayor Eric Adams against an FBI raid of his home.
Edward Wallace
Edward Wallace is Co-Chairman of Greenberg Traurig’s New York City office, providing counsel to companies dealing with local governments. He has advised Columbia University, NYU and Fordham through major real estate development projects while also negotiating long term municipal contracts for JCDecaux and Hornblower.
He holds certifications and licenses in crime scene investigations, fire investigations, post blast investigations, latent fingerprinting analysis of blood patterns, latent fingerprinting latent print removal techniques for blood patterns analysis latent fingerprinting latent print removal latent print retrieval latent fingerprinting latent print analysis WMD/Haz-Mat detection as well as WMD/Haz-Mat detection. Furthermore, he designed and built a temporary Biosafety Level 3 Mobile Laboratory that enabled New York City police and Department of Health to conduct field presumptive identification of potential biological agents using PCR DNA technology for field identification of possible biological agents on crime scenes or during post blast investigations.
India Sneed
India Sneed is an attorney and policy strategist at the intersection of law, politics and business. She advises clients as outside general counsel for government affairs matters relating to compliance and risk mitigation of Fortune 500 companies; additionally she guides clients in matters pertaining to minority women-owned business enterprise strategies (MWBE/CBE certification strategies, procurement law compliance as well as lobbying regulations).
Greenberg Traurig recently hired her as an associate in their Government Law & Policy practice, having previously served as Legislative & Budget Director for one of their City Council Members and Assistant District Attorney in Kings County.
