New York City Corporation Counsel Appoints Muriel Goode-Trufant as First Assistant Corporation Counsel

February 3, 2023

31 Year Veteran of the Law Department, Former Managing Attorney Becomes

Second-in-Command of 1,600-Person Legal Office

New York City Corporation Counsel Sylvia O. Hinds Radix today named Muriel Goode-Trufant as the Law Department’s First Assistant Corporation Counsel. Goode-Trufant held the position in an acting capacity following the departure of First Assistant Steve Stein Cushman in December 2022. Since 2015 she served as Managing Attorney, directing the operations of the agency’s 850 lawyers and 750 support staff.

Goode-Trufant has been credited with litigating and resolving many class actions and high profile cases. She helped create the Special Federal Litigation Division and develop its practices that have led to significant litigation successes for the City. Additionally, she was part of the team that kept the Law Department operational and staff safe during the pandemic.

“Muriel is a natural leader and a fine public servant with over three decades of experience at the Law Department,” said New York City Corporation Counsel Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix. “As a longstanding member of the Law Department’s leadership team, Muriel has helped resolve some of the City’s biggest cases and departmental challenges. I will call upon Muriel’s management expertise as we carry out our mission to further the interests of the City of New York and all New Yorkers.”

New York City Law Department First Assistant Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant said “I am incredibly humbled to have the opportunity to serve this great Department and this great City as First Assistant Corporation Counsel. My priorities will be to ensure the Law Department remains one of the best public law offices in the country and I look forward to continuing my work with my dedicated colleagues in my new role.”

As First Assistant, Goode-Trufant serves as a key legal advisor to the Corporation Counsel, the Mayor, and City Officials. She also counsels the Law Department’s executive team on important operational, legal and policy matters impacting the agency. As the second-in-command at the Law Department, the First Assistant assumes the duties as head of the agency during Corporation Counsel absences or disability. In addition, Goode-Trufant will oversee five legal divisions, three of which handle transactions associated with billions of dollars in City contracts, municipal finance and City economic development deals. Two other Divisions handling thousands of civil rights and tort cases in federal and state court will also report to Goode-Trufant.

About Muriel Goode-Trufant

Muriel Goode-Trufant began her career at the Law Department in 1991 as an attorney in the General Litigation Division, where she held numerous roles including Assistant Chief of the Division. She later became the agency’s EEO Officer, and rose to the position of Chief in the Special Federal Litigation Division. Goode-Trufant became the Law Department’s Managing Attorney in 2015. Prior to working for the City, she was an associate at the Philadelphia law firm Cohen, Shapiro, Polisher, Shiekman & Cohen. She has won numerous legal accolades and awards including the Law Department’s highest honor, the Corporation Counsel’s Award for Distinguished Legal Service in 2011. She is a graduate of Temple University School of Law and the University of Pennsylvania.