Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to bolster the ranks of the city Law Department, painting the proposed hiring spree as a way to fend off financially crushing personal injury cases.
“We are also adding 200 lawyers to the Law Department to reduce tort liability, which we anticipate will yield $125 million in savings in fiscal year 2027 alone,” Mamdani said Tuesday while unveiling his $127 billion preliminary budget proposal.
But City Hall backtracked Wednesday on the mayor’s statement, telling The Post that the new lawyers will not just be for torts, but “spread around different areas.”
On the campaign trail, Mamdani had said hiring 200 new lawyers were part of “a critical bulwark” against President Trump — and never mentioned fighting torts.
Overall, Mamdani’s preliminary spending plan aims to increase the long-understaffed department by 300, including the 200 new lawyers and 100 “support staff,” growing the agency’s budget by $70 million, for a total $314.4 million.
City Hall did not clarify how the administration calculated that the $70 million funding boost would lead to $125 million in savings.
The mayor’s office and early budget documents also did not specify where the attorneys would be headed within the department.
The agency handles all of the city’s legal affairs, including drafting legislation for the mayor, managing contracts, real estate transactions — and filing lawsuits to collect fines, fees and enforce regulations.
The department has been shedding staff for years due to poor compensation, and its current headcount of around 1,400 is roughly 100 fewer than its current budgeted level.
Tort litigation against the city cost taxpayers over $1 billion in fiscal year 2024, according to records.