Attorney General-elect assembles legal team

Soon-to-be New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has begun to assemble the legal team that will inherit the office of Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo and Co. Among the highlights so far: Harlan Levy, trial lawyer and partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, will be Schneiderman's chief deputy; Barbara Underwood, a former federal prosecutor and deputy solicitor general for the United States, will assume the role of New York solicitor general; Karla Sanchez, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler's first and only Hispanic partner, will serve as executive deputy attorney general for economic justice; and Janet Sabel, Legal Aid's general counsel, will serve as executive deputy attorney general for social justice.

Schneiderman, himself a BigLaw alumnus from K&L Gates (then known as Kirkpatrick & Lockhart), aims to "build the greatest public interest law firm in America." The team will inherit a slew of Wall Street-based cases from the outgoing Cuomo administration, with the recently announced civil fraud lawsuit against Ernst & Young likely taking top priority. 

Schneiderman's new appointees are well-versed in tackling high-profile public interest cases; Levy, for example, previously served as Manhattan's chief homicide prosecutor, and each of the other appointees can claim extensive experience working on behalf of the people of New York City.

For more information:
Attorney General-Elect Eric Schneiderman Announces Senior Legal Staff Appointments
Reuters: New "Sheriff" on Wall Street fills top six jobs

- Sam Reynolds