{"id":36150,"date":"2025-11-11T16:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T16:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/36150\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T16:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T16:21:10","slug":"zohran-mamdani-may-tap-ex-homeless-services-chief-as-nycs-top-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/36150\/","title":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani may tap ex-homeless services chief as NYC&#8217;s top lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A self-described \u201csocial justice attorney\u201d who served as former Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s homeless and welfare services boss is in contention to be the city\u2019s top lawyer in Zohran Mamdani\u2019s administration, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n<p>Sources said Mamdani is being encouraged to appoint Steven Banks as corporation counsel leading the city\u2019s Law Department.<\/p>\n<p>Insiders said Banks, who was de Blasio\u2019s commissioner of the Department of Social Services, has emerged as the front-runner, but it\u2019s not a done deal.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"37635144\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/steven-banks-commissioner-department-social-19328050.jpg\" alt=\"Steven Banks, Commissioner of the Department of Social Services, speaking at the NYC Immigrant's roundtable.\" class=\"wp-image-37635144\"  \/>Self-described \u201csocial justice attorney\u201d Steven Banks had faced criticism over financial scandals and horrid conditions at key not-for-profit homeless shelters his agency contracted with. Dan Herrick<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMamdani being pushed to make him corp counsel,\u201d one source said.<\/p>\n<p>Banks cut his teeth as a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society, where he often clashed with city officials in court to create and expand the Big Apple\u2019s unique and controversial \u201cright to shelter\u201d law.<\/p>\n<p>As commissioner of the DSS, the largest social services agency in the US, Banks managed 16,000 staffers serving more than 3 million residents per year with an annual budget of $12 billion.<\/p>\n<p>But he faced criticism over financial scandals and horrid conditions at key not-for-profit homeless shelters with which his agency contracted.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Banks stepped down as \u201cspecial counsel\u201d at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton &amp; Garrison.<\/p>\n<p>He now lists himself as a \u201cpublic interest social justice attorney\u201d on his LinkedIn page.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"37635120\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/new-york-city-mayor-elect-115165869_e68853.jpg\" alt=\"New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaking at a press conference.\" class=\"wp-image-37635120\"  \/>Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is \u201cbeing pushed to make [Banks] corp counsel,\u201d one source said. James Keivom<\/p>\n<p>The Mamdani transition declined to comment, as did Banks.<\/p>\n<p>The Law Department represents city agencies, the mayor and other elected officials in litigation, as well as juvenile delinquency proceedings brought in Family Court and code enforcement proceedings brought in Criminal Court.<\/p>\n<p>Hiring Banks for the top post would be another example of Mamdani plucking a de Blasio alum to join his administration.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, the mayor-elect appointed Dean Fuleihan as his first deputy mayor. Fuleihan also served as de Blasio\u2019s budget director and later as first deputy mayor.<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani\u2019s transition team is also stacked with government vets who worked in the de Blasio and other mayoral administrations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A self-described \u201csocial justice attorney\u201d who served as former Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s homeless and welfare services boss&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9894,2000,57,9,24,55,54,56,58,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-36150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-bill-de-blasio","9":"tag-homelessness","10":"tag-metro","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-city-news","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-us-news","17":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}