New York City Law Department 2025 Notable Cases & Initiatives

December 16, 2025

New York City Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant today released a list of notable cases and initiatives undertaken by the New York City Law Department in 2025, demonstrating the office's continued commitment to protecting and advancing the interests of New Yorkers.

"We took office with a simple promise: to 'Get Stuff Done,' and, four years later, our administration can say we delivered that every day for working-class New Yorkers," said Mayor Adams. "We drove shootings to record lows and pushed jobs and small businesses to record highs. We rewrote the playbook on homelessness and mental health to finally get New Yorkers living on our streets the help they need, and, after decades of half-measures, passed historic housing legislation to turn New York into a 'City of Yes.' We overhauled the way our students learn to read and do math, cut the cost of child care, and forgave medical debt. We eliminated taxes for low-income families, launched free universal after-school programming, and through the Law Department, protected the rights, safety, education, and health of New Yorkers. We got scaffolding off our buildings, trash bags off our streets, and opened up new public spaces for New Yorkers to enjoy. The haters may have doubted us, but the results are clear. On issue after issue, we brought common-sense leadership to create a safer, more affordable city, and our work has changed our city for the better; it will stand the test of time because we made New York City the best place to live and raise a family."

"I am proud of what the Law Department has accomplished this year to protect the interests of the City and to improve the quality of life for New Yorkers," said New York City Corporation Counsel Goode-Trufant. "As detailed in the work highlighted below, the dedicated public servants of this office have helped the City confront numerous challenges across various legal areas to help make the City safer, healthier, and more prosperous for all."

Law Department highlights from 2025:

Public Safety: Secured a consent order against Long Island-based vape seller permanently closing their business operations; brought a lawsuit against nine major national distributors for illegally selling disposable flavored e-cigarettes; and secured a favorable ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a challenge to laws concerning the licensing and carrying of concealed firearms, including carrying in sensitive locations such as Times Square. The Law Department also sued the Trump Administration to protect $12 million in counterterrorism funding for the New York City subway system.

Public Health & Education: In the New York Court of Appeals, the City prevailed in a challenge to a local law addressing large buildings' greenhouse gas emissions; and succeeded in a challenge to pension funds' fossil fuel divestment in the Appellate Division, First Department. City attorneys also persuaded the New York Court of Appeals that the City could move forward with an effort to transition municipal retirees to a new healthcare plan; obtained a favorable decision from the same court in a lawsuit claiming that the Department of Education failed to effectively address racial segregation.

Protecting the City from Federal Overreach: The Law Department participated in over 35 legal proceedings to protect the interests of the City from the Trump Administration's aggressive overreach, to ensure the City's interests remain protected. We also joined coalitions of other cities and states to streamline litigation efforts. Examples include: filing a lawsuit to protect over $100 million in federal emergency and disaster grants; filing an action challenging conditions placed on over $50 million in federal funding used to house thousands of at-risk and formerly homeless New Yorkers; and filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education to protect $47 million in federal education grants for New York City Public Schools. Nearly two dozen amicus briefs have been filed to ensure the City's voice was heard on important issues, such as support for habeas petitions of several students detained by federal immigration officials; opposing a federal rule threatening immigrants' economic livelihood and undermining street safety; taking action to protect federal funding for Planned Parenthood; and opposing the federal government's military deployment in American cities. With New Yorkers in mind, we also supported challenges to the federal government's efforts to undermine the environment; sought to protect billions in federal funding for hospitals, universities, and research institutions; and argued to safeguard over $820 million in federal funding for public safety organizations.

Currently, the Law Department is vigorously defending the City against the federal government's suit to invalidate our sanctuary city laws through the newly established unit, the Executive Litigation and Policy Group, which will enhance the agency's ability to respond to federal actions.

Supporting the City's Economic and Workforce Development: In 2025, the Law Department worked on a number of notable economic development projects and closed $28.9 billion in bond deals. For example, the United Nations Development Corporation sold $365 million in City-backed municipal bonds to finance renovations of the One and Two UN Plaza buildings, which secured and committed the United Nations to remain in New York City and created 1,800 jobs. The Law Department also helped negotiate transactions for, and defended legal challenges to, the Bally's, Bronx and Metropolitan Park, Queens proposed casinos, which are anticipated to bring thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars of revenue to the City's economy. A negotiated resolution to a street furniture franchise dispute resulted in a $92 million payment to the City, 345 additional bus shelters, 40 new public automated toilets (and additional revenue sharing), and public service and international advertising for the City. Finally, the Office worked on concession agreements for Wollman Rink and Silvercup Studios. In addition to these projects, the Law Department played an instrumental role in City contracting reforms, including negotiating new Project Labor Agreements for Design-Build projects, drafting new procurement rules for Design Build, expanding work allowances to improve contractor payment timeframes, and streamlining payments to the City's not-for-profit providers. Finally, in the area of workforce development, the Law Department successfully defended against preliminary injunctions sought by DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber, and Relay, challenging the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection's Minimum Pay Rule applicable to food delivery workers.

These key efforts represent a small but significant portion of the work conducted by the Law Department during 2025.

The breadth and scope of the Law Department's work is enormous. Various legal divisions support the daily functions of city government through their work on legal issues arising from the operations of a city with over a $100 billion budget and contract expenditures totaling tens of billions of dollars each year. The office handles questions of administrative law, represents the City in juvenile prosecutions, advises on complex real estate transactions, provides guidance on legislation, defends the City and its employees in tort, contractual, financial, employment and civil rights disputes in both state and federal courts, and so much more.

The interests of the City, and its residents, are always at the forefront when Law Department attorneys are in court defending important municipal initiatives and advising the City on various issues.