Faced with chronic staffing shortages in the city’s legal workforce, Mayor Eric Adams launched an innovative program designed to enable junior attorneys from law firms to serve one-year appointments in the legal departments of city agencies. Under the fellowship, the attorneys will continue to be employed by and paid by their firms, but serve New Yorkers as full-time city employees “on the dime of the law firms,” the mayor said.
“Here in the city, we’re not just talking about problems, but solving them,” Adams said. “The Legal Fellows Program will strengthen the partnership between the private and public sectors; lay the groundwork for a lifetime of civic support and engagement; and help put the talents of these dedicated lawyers to work by addressing some of the biggest challenges facing New Yorkers.”
