Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has contracted with two high-powered law firms to help it deal with a maelstrom of state and federal investigations.
Associates at law firm Debevoise & Plimpton are abuzz with the news they are representing the de Blasio administration, according to a knowledgable source.
In a statement, de Blasio’s Law Department confirmed it had retained Debevoise, as well as Carter Ledyard & Milburn.
“As part of our cooperation with law enforcement inquiries, the Law Department has contracted with the law firms Debevoise & Plimpton as well as Carter Ledyard & Milburn to represent the City and assist in document collection and review,” the department said in a statement. “The lawyers have been in touch with the U.S. Attorney’s office to advance that cooperation.”
The two lead attorneys from Debevoise & Plimpton are Matt Fishbein and Sean Hecker, according to a Law Department spokesmen. Both attorneys are prominent white-collar criminal defense attorneys. The attorney from Carter Ledyard & Milburn is Michael Bellinger, also a specialist in white-collar criminal defense.
Spokesmen for the mayor and the Law Department declined to say how much its contracts with these law firms are costing the city.
The contracts mean the de Blasio administration and his campaign accounts have a full quiver of attorneys to help them deal with investigations into corruption at the NYPD and possible various city actions that benefited de Blasio donors.
In addition to the Law Department’s retention of Debevoise, “The Mayor has retained Barry Berke of Kramer Levin as his attorney to assist in all efforts to cooperate with authorities and ensure they have all the information they need to bring these investigations to a prompt conclusion,” said de Blasio spokesman Peter Kadushin. “In addition, Barry Berke will continue to represent the 2013 campaign.
De Blasio’s campaign accounts have also been employing Laurence Laufer of Kantor Davidoff.
Representatives from Debevoise and Carter Ledyard had no immediate comment.
