The MTA’s top lawyer is abruptly stepping down at the end of July with no successor immediately named — just months after The Post revealed the agency’s legal costs ballooned under her tenure. 

MTA General Counsel Paige Graves — who made nearly $100,000 more than Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2025 —  quietly announced her resignation in a June 30 email obtained by The Post.

“After fourteen remarkable years with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, I have decided that the time has come for me to begin a new chapter,” the email begins, noting that her last day with the agency will be July 31.

MTA General Counsel Paige Graves quietly announced her resignation, according to a June 30 email obtained by The Post. MTA

An MTA bus was involved in an accident at 1st Ave. and 83rd St. in Manhattan on Tuesday, April 21, 2026.  Robert Mecea for New York Post

Firefighters and police rescued a man from under the L train on June 30, 2018. Robert Stridiron

Graves’ departure caps a turbulent season for the transit authority’s legal department, coming on the heels of a Post investigation in May that detailed how the allegedly cash-strapped agency has outsourced millions of dollars in legal work to high-priced private law firms.

The MTA admitted it had paid more than $10 million to six law firms in recent years, but refused to reveal exactly how much in taxpayer cash was being used to pay outside lawyers to represent the agency.

Insiders couldn’t confirm why Graves was leaving.

“It seems like she’s been forced out,” one source said, noting that a departure from MTA executive leadership would normally be announced months ahead of time — alongside a widespread notice that would include the name of the staffer’s successor.

An MTA spokesperson denied that Graves was being ousted and claimed there was nothing unusual about her moving on.

“Paige Graves advised MTA leadership months ago of her plans to take on new opportunities outside the organization, agreeing to wrap up priority projects through the end of this month,” the agency’s communications director Tim Minton told The Post after publication, calling her five years as general counsel “momentous.” 

Minton confirmed that, despite the alleged “months” of notice, the MTA did not have a planned successor for Graves, adding the agency was “conducting a national search.”

Graves’ email giving 30-day notice, with the subject line “Farewell Announcement” was only circulated to 50 recipients, and sources said few inside the agency were even aware that she was stepping down.

One source in the MTA’s law department confirmed that her departure hadn’t been announced to rank-and-file attorneys.

Graves has served as the MTA’s legal leader since 2022, leading a team of 350 attorneys, and was paid over $344,000 in 2025, according to public records. NurPhoto via Getty Images

Records show that Graves earned nearly $100,000 more than Gov. Hochul in 2025. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The former Manhattan prosecutor has served as the MTA’s legal leader since 2022, leading a team of 350 attorneys, and was paid over $344,000 in 2025, according to public records.

By contrast, the governor’s salary last year was $250,000, while MTA CEO Janno Lieber earned almost $470,000 in total pay, records show.

During her time as the agency’s legal boss, Graves navigated choppy legal waters, including congestion pricing, federal funding for the Second Avenue Subway expansion and a massive accessibility settlement over the system’s lack of elevators.

But that period also saw a number of record-breaking personal injury verdicts.

Whistleblowers said some of the judgements were hugely inflated due to an unprecedented reliance on outside counsel beginning in 2022 — despite the MTA having a fully-staffed and experienced torts department. Private attorneys can add hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Some of those recent eye-watering settlements included:

Graves, a graduate of the Wharton School and Hofstra Law School, also cut her teeth as a forensic litigation consultant at “big four” accounting firm KPMG, and spent more than a decade climbing the legal ladder inside the public transit bureaucracy. 

She previously served as vice president and general counsel for the MTA Bus Company and had a two-year stint at the Long Island Rail Road before taking the reins of the main agency’s legal arm.