Mayor Announces The Intention To Nominate Muriel Goode-Trufant To Serve As New York City’s Corporation Counsel
Our Bureau
New York, NY
New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced the appointment of Allison Stoddart as City Hall chief counsel, effective immediately. Stoddart has served as chief of staff in the Office of the Chief Counsel since the start of the Adams administration. During her tenure, Stoddart spearheaded the New York City Legal Fellows Program, a citywide initiative designed to enable junior attorneys at law firms across New York City to serve their fellow New Yorkers through a one-year appointment in the legal department of a city agency. Stoddart has worked alongside City Hall policymakers on a wide range of issues, including the expansion of paid parental leave and family leave and the removal of sidewalk construction sheds and scaffolding.
“I’ve always believed that the law and public service go hand-in-hand, and serving in the Office of the Chief Counsel to the mayor and City Hall has been a defining privilege of my career,” said City Hall Chief Counsel Allison Stoddart. “I’ve been proud to serve as a chief of staff, and now, as chief counsel, to serve New York City. In this role, I will continue to collaborate with the many committed public servants who work so hard every day to shape the future of our city. I look forward to continuing to work closely with newly-nominated Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant and the other members of the Law Department.”
In addition to serving as both Mayor Adams’ and City Hall’s counsel, Stoddart will oversee 10 agencies: the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services, the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, the Office of Labor Relations, the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, the Mayor’s Office of Risk Management and Compliance, the New York City Business Integrity Commission, the New York City Commission on Human Rights, the New York City Department of Records and Information Services, the Office of the Administrative Justice Coordinator, and the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.
Allison Stoddart most recently served as chief of staff to City Hall’s chief counsel. Stoddart was appointed in January 2022, at the beginning of the Adams administration. Prior to that, she was counsel at WilmerHale, where her practice focused on representing individuals, corporations, and financial institutions in complex commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement proceedings, and internal investigations.
Stoddart previously served as a law clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Boston College Law School. Stoddart will report directly to Mayor Adams.
Mayor Adams has announced his intention to nominate Muriel Goode-Trufant as the city’s next corporation counsel. Goode-Trufant is a longtime public servant, having spent more than 30 years in the New York City Department of Law, where she has served as acting corporation counsel since this summer. As corporation counsel, Goode-Trufant will lead the New York City Department of Law, which is primarily responsible for providing legal representation to the City of New York — for the Mayor’s Office, the Public Advocate’s Office, the Comptroller’s Office, city agencies, and the City Council — in all affirmative and defensive civil litigation.
“I am excited to announce my intention to nominate Muriel Goode-Trufant as New York City’s next corporation counsel,” said Mayor Adams. “Muriel’s record speaks for itself — a dedicated public servant with more than 30 years of experience at the Law Department, a recipient of the agency’s highest honor, and a lawyer who has fought for equity and justice. As our next corporation counsel, Muriel is prepared to serve our entire municipal government and use the full power of our legal system to lead our city forward.”
“I am humbled and honored by the intention to be nominated by Mayor Adams to serve as the city’s next corporation counsel,” said New York City Corporation Counsel Nominee Muriel Goode-Trufant. “Through my more than three decades as an attorney at the New York City Law Department, I am keenly aware of the vital role the corporation counsel plays in New York City government.”
Muriel Goode-Trufant will replace Judge Sylvia Hinds-Radix, who stepped down from her post at the end of May. Judge Hinds-Radix led the Department of Law since January 2022.
Muriel Goode-Trufant began her career at the New York City Department of Law 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 Equal Employment Opportunity officer and rose to the position of chief in the Special Federal Litigation Division.
