Amid questions about his ability to keep governing New York City as he battles federal bribery and corruption allegations, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Tuesday that he would nominate Muriel Goode-Trufant as the city’s next top lawyer, weeks after his initial pick, Randy Mastro, withdrew from consideration.
Goode-Trufant, a veteran city attorney who has worked for the Law Department for more than three decades, has served as acting chief corporation counsel since Sylvia Hinds-Radix’s resignation earlier this year.
In order to get the permanent job, she’ll have to be confirmed by the City Council — a bar that Mastro had looked unlikely to clear. For Adams, Goode-Trufant’s nomination was an opportunity to demonstrate that he can still govern while under indictment.
“Corporation counsel is functioning,” Adams told reporters on Tuesday at his first off-topic press conference since prosecutors unsealed a 57-page indictment against him last week. “These entities do not disappear from mayor to mayor to mayor. This is the permanent infrastructure of a city that can operate no matter what happens.”
As corporation counsel, Goode-Trufant would be in charge of the Law Department, which employs approximately 800 attorneys to defend the city and its agencies in civil cases. She said she was “humbled and honored” by the nomination.
“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,” Goode-Trufant said in a statement.
Adams’ previous nominee for the position, Mastro, is a former high-ranking Giuliani administration official who has maintained a robust political network in the decades since. Even before his formal nomination, city councilmembers had raised concerns about his legal clientele list, including the state of New Jersey in its lawsuit to block congestion pricing from taking effect in New York City. He faced a contentious Council hearing in late August before pulling himself out of the running last month.
Goode-Trufant has kept a much lower public profile. On Tuesday, Adams described her as “a lawyer who has fought for equity and justice.”
The mayor also promoted Allison Stoddart to become his chief counsel — the post Lisa Zornberg abruptly vacated last month. In her resignation letter, Zornberg said she could “no longer effectively serve” in the role, without providing further explanation.
Adams on Tuesday deflected questions about the indictment and several of his aides who are caught up in investigations and scandals. He was pressed on how he will focus on the day-to-day of city governance when his time is being consumed by criminal charges.
“All of us go through stuff,” Adams told reporters. “Some of you are going through your own personal stuff — a medical diagnosis, a legal issue, a family matter. Do you sit down at your desk and say, ‘Woe is me?’ Or do you come out and cover the mayor?”