Not long after Eric Adams became the mayor of New York City, he quickly rewarded a cadre of loyalists with plum jobs in his administration. Now Mr. Adams is casting favor upon a new set of people looking out for his interests: defense lawyers.
A high-powered team from the law firm WilmerHale is representing the mayor in an investigation by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York over potential ties between his campaign and the Turkish government. The firm has already been paid more than $730,000 by the mayor’s five-month-old legal defense fund.
Mr. Adams intends to bring aboard Randy Mastro, a lawyer known for his aggressive tactics and roster of contentious clients and causes, to represent him as the city’s corporation counsel. Mr. Mastro would earn roughly $250,000 a year and would replace Sylvia Hinds-Radix, a former judge who has a more reserved style.
Another lawyer known for his high-profile clients and high fees has been hired by the city to represent Mr. Adams in a lawsuit accusing him of sexually assaulting a woman in 1993 when he was a police officer. The lawyer, Alex Spiro, has represented Elon Musk; Jay-Z; the New England Patriots owner, Robert Kraft; and Alec Baldwin.
If Mr. Mastro is nominated and confirmed by the City Council, he is expected to work with Mr. Spiro on the case. Mr. Adams, a Democrat who is running for re-election next year, has repeatedly denied the sexual assault allegations.
In the sexual assault case, the mayor and his legal team have said that he is entitled to legal representation by the city because he was a police officer when the alleged incident took place. The mayor’s office, however, could offer no examples of any other retired police officers being represented by the city’s top lawyer in an assault case.
The mayor and his legal team nonetheless contend that the city’s hiring of Mr. Spiro is one of many examples where the Law Department seeks outside counsel so that city lawyers can focus on other matters, including cases related to the migrant crisis and the troubled Rikers jail complex.
The legal hiring spree is not unprecedented for elected officials in New York. Mayor Adams’s predecessor, Bill de Blasio, faced a federal investigation into his fund-raising that cost the city more than $10 million for taxpayer-funded defense lawyers.
Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who faced several sexual harassment investigations and resigned in 2021, has cost taxpayers at least $20 million in legal fees for him and members of his executive staff, according to an analysis in The Times Union of Albany.
No one questions the mayor’s right to defend himself, but the questions for voters are whether taxpayers should pay for his defense and whether all of the investigations will sidetrack Mr. Adams from focusing on the city’s many pressing challenges, said Basil Smikle, director of the Public Policy Program at Hunter College.
“If you need this much firepower, how problematic are these cases and how much is that going to distract you from governance?” he said.
Liz Garcia, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said that Mr. Adams “remains laser- focused on delivering for the people of New York” and that he would “continue to defer to the corporation counsel and the Law Department for any legal matters.”
Several of the mayor’s lawyers worked in the Southern District of New York, where Mr. Adams faces the most serious investigation: the federal inquiry into his campaign’s ties to the Turkish government. In that investigation, the mayor is being represented by a team at WilmerHale that includes Brendan R. McGuire, a partner in the firm’s white-collar defense practice, and another partner, Boyd M. Johnson III.
The mayor’s chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, is a former senior Manhattan federal prosecutor — a point she made clear at a news conference in November, when questions arose about the Southern District investigation.
“I’m going to jump in here,” she interceded. “So many of you know that in addition to being the chief counsel to the mayor and City Hall, I was formerly the chief of the criminal division.”
At a news conference last week, Ms. Zornberg praised Mr. Mastro, comparing him to the founding father John Adams. In November, she told reporters that the sexual assault lawsuit had been filed by a “person who according to public records and in her own words is so litigious that she’s written a book on how to file lawsuits.”
Mr. Spiro’s firm has agreed to charge the city a heavily discounted rate of about $250 an hour. His aggressive tactics gained attention in his representation of Mr. Musk in a lawsuit in Texas, where his behavior was criticized as “astonishingly unprofessional” by opposing lawyers who have asked a judge to issue sanctions against him. The opposing counsel said that he interrupted and “berated” him. Mr. Spiro accused him of wanting his “15 minutes of fame.”
Mr. Mastro and Mr. Spiro are both known for their brash style. Mr. Mastro has tried to halt New York City’s congestion pricing plan on behalf of New Jersey and sought to get homeless men removed from a hotel in Manhattan. Mr. Spiro helped Mr. Musk win a defamation suit over a cave rescue effort in Thailand.
Mr. Adams’s push to hire Mr. Mastro, a former deputy mayor under Rudolph W. Giuliani, is opposed by Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker, and the Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus.
The sexual assault lawsuit was filed against Mr. Adams under the Adult Survivors Act, which provided a one-year window for people to bring lawsuits over sexual assaults that occurred years ago. A woman claimed that Mr. Adams requested oral sex from her in exchange for career help when they worked together at New York City’s Transit Police Department. When she refused, he forced her to touch his penis and ejaculated on her, the complaint said.
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Megan Goddard, an employment discrimination lawyer who is representing the woman, has said that her client was brave for coming forward and that her firm was comfortable taking on “David and Goliath” cases.
“The truth is the truth, no matter who your lawyer is or how many lawyers you hire,” she said in a statement.
The city will also foot the legal bill incurred by one of the mayor’s closest aides, Timothy Pearson, who was accused in a lawsuit of sexually harassing a police sergeant. Mr. Pearson is also being investigated over a brawl with security guards at a Manhattan migrant shelter.
The mayor’s hires signal a combative legal strategy that could be similar to that of former President Trump and Mr. Cuomo, said Rebecca Roiphe, a professor at New York Law School and a former prosecutor in Manhattan.
“Not conceding anything and really fighting hard is one way that certain lawyers approach certain cases — sometimes that’s very successful and sometimes that blows up in your face,” she said.
Some experts have raised concerns over the corporation counsel’s representing Mr. Adams in the lawsuit. But John Kaehny, executive director of the watchdog group Reinvent Albany and a frequent critic of Mr. Adams, argued that it was appropriate for the mayor to receive city legal representation, even if it feels unfair for taxpayers to foot the bill.
“There’s only one mayor — that makes the person in that office different from anybody else,” he said. “They do get some protections because they have this exposure — we have real concerns about the politicization of lawsuits against elected officials.”
The mayor’s legal defense fund has raised more than $1 million from donors including Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor, and Elie Tahari, the fashion designer, who each donated $5,000. The fund has already returned $86,000 in donations, including some from people who do business with the city and are prohibited from donating.
Jeff Sklar, an adviser to business leaders, said he gave the fund $5,000 in March after attending a three-hour dinner with Mr. Adams at a restaurant, 432 Park Avenue, in one of the new skyscrapers overlooking Central Park. A hedge fund manager, Barry Feirstein, introduced them, he said, and Mr. Sklar got a photo with Mr. Adams that he posted on LinkedIn.
Mr. Sklar said he supports the mayor’s public safety policies and his embrace of the business community.
“Under de Blasio, we were basically ignored,” he said.
