Veteran attorney, former Adams deputy Randy Mastro gets new law firm gig

Prominent litigator Randy Mastro, who most recently served as former Mayor Eric Adams’ top deputy, is returning to private practice with a partnership at global law firm Dechert.

Mastro, a former aide to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani who is known for employing an aggressive style in both City Hall and the courtroom, joins the roughly 900-lawyer Dechert as co-chair of the firm’s securities and complex litigation practice.

“Randy is one of the premier litigators and government enforcement practitioners in the country,” said Dechert co-chair Mark Thierfelder in a firm announcement. “His proven track record in complex investigations and high-profile trials, along with his unique experience helping run one of the biggest cities in the world like a successful business, will be invaluable to our clients as we help them manage their capital and avoid business risk.”

As of 2024, Dechert’s New York office had almost 250 lawyers on its roster.

“I am thrilled to be joining Dechert, a firm I have long admired and seen ascend to become a global powerhouse today, with such a strong and dynamic litigation team here in New York, across the country and throughout the world,” Mastro said in the firm release. “I look forward to helping the firm grow its complex commercial litigation practice and serve our clients with distinction.”

Last year, the then-scandal-marred Adams tapped Mastro, who at the time was a partner at law firm King & Spalding, to serve as the city’s first deputy mayor following the veteran attorney’s disastrous nomination for Corporation Counsel.

In a grueling 11-hour confirmation hearing held in August 2024 before the New York City Council, lawmakers skewered Mastro over his long — and, at times, controversial — litigation record.

“I’m known as a lawyer who is tenacious and successful in the courtroom. I’m known as a bear in the courtroom, but I’m actually a teddy bear in real life,” Mastro said during the hearing.

Over Mastro’s 40-year legal career, his clientele has included former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whom Mastro represented during the “Bridgegate” scandal; and Chevron as it faced litigation over an oil spill in Ecuador.

More recently, Mastro represented a group of Upper West Side residents who opposed the use of the Lucerne Hotel as a shelter for homeless men during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mastro also appeared for Madison Square Garden in lawsuits filed by former New York Knicks forward Charles Oakely, who was forcibly removed from a Knicks game; and in lawsuits filed over MSG’s controversial policy of prohibiting lawyers who work with firms suing the entertainment giant from attending events at its venues.

With prospects of the council appointing him to lead the city’s Law Department looking grim, Mastro ultimately withdrew his own nomination for the post.

In the 1980s, when Mastro was a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, he led a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act lawsuit against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

As Giuliani’s chief of staff in the mid-1990s, Mastro remained on the front lines of the government’s battle to root out La Cosa Nostra, leading crackdowns on mob operations in the Fulton Fish Market and in Little Italy’s San Gennaro Festival.

During the nine months of 2025 in which he served as Adams’ first deputy — the city’s second in command — Mastro oversaw the implementation of a number of the lame-duck mayor’s priorities, including the return of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to Rikers Island and preventing NoHo’s Elizabeth Street Garden from being used as a site for senior housing.

Mastro reportedly resigned from his post in December after learning that he would be let go after Mayor Zohran Mamdani was sworn in on Jan. 1.