BY ALBERT AMATEAU | On the eve of retiring as first assistant corporation counsel of the city’s Law Department, Jeffrey Friedlander, who grew up in the East Village, talked with The Villager about some of the highlights of his illustrious service to the city he loves.
The longest-serving first assistant ever, having held the position since 1995, and the second longest-serving Law Department member since 1970, Friedlander enjoyed a career encompassing myriad legal issues, including landmarks, community gardens, affordable housing and human rights.
His service spanned the administrations of seven mayors and 13 corporation counsels (as the city’s chief legal officer is known). He is especially proud of having drafted the anti-apartheid legislation in the 1980s that prohibited the city from doing business with companies that operated in South Africa unless they followed the Sullivan Principles, which demanded equal treatment of employees in that country regardless of race.
He is also proud of the way the Law Department carried on after it was displaced from its Church St. headquarters after the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attack and was scattered to 44 locations for seven months.
“I grew up on E. Seventh St. in a three-story brownstone that belonged to my paternal grandfather,” said Friedlander, who lives in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, with his wife, Marjory. “Actually,” he added, “the house remained in the family until a few months ago when we sold it.”
Friedlander went to a small private Hebrew elementary school on E. Houston St.
“The building no longer exists,” he said.
He then went to Seward Park High School.
“I became interested in American history and just assumed that law would be the next step,” he said.
He went to Hunter College, graduating in 1967, and then to New York University Law School, earning his law degree in 1970.
While in law school, Friedlander was an intern for U.S. Senator Jacob Javits and also spent a summer in the office of U.S. Attorney Robert Morgenthau. One of his professors at N.Y.U., Norman Redlich, who was then also in the city Law Department in Mayor John Lindsay’s administration, suggested that Friedlander apply for an honors program in the department. Armed with his new J.D. degree, Friedlander took the advice and embarked on his career.
The Landmarks Preservation Law was only five years old at the time when Friedlander was involved in its expansion to include interiors. The expansion led to designation of, among others, the interiors of Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center and the Beacon Theater on Broadway. One landmark issue that went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court at the time and helped establish the constitutionality of historic preservation was the Grand Central Station case.
“My colleague Leonard Koerner argued it before the Supreme Court,” Friedlander said. “He’s been in the department three years longer than I have. I wanted to retire before he did and leave him unchallenged as the longest-serving member of the department,” he quipped.
“I worked on the settlement between the city and the New York State attorney general on the issue of community gardens and affordable housing sites,”
Friedlander said. “I think we were pretty successful preserving some gardens and allowing others to be developed for housing.”
The signing of the agreement in 2003 was a memorable occasion for East Village residents, some of who came to the event dressed as vegetables and flowers.
Friedlander’s accomplishments range from the establishment of the Civilian Complaint Review Board to the drafting of the city’s gay rights law. He worked on the city’s Campaign Finance Law and drafted the Watershed Protection Agreement, a pact by the city and state governments and Upstate communities to keep the New York City watershed pure while allowing limited development. He played a key role in the establishment of Brooklyn Bridge Park and the transformation of Governors Island.
As first assistant corporation counsel, Friedlander is also responsible for leading the Law Department in the absence of the corporation counsel. He served as acting corporation counsel for five months from November 1997 to March 1998 and for a brief period in January 2014.
Friedlander will retire at the end of June.
Mayor Bill de Blasio called him “a brilliant legal legend, the epitome of someone who’s dedicated his life to public service and to whom all New Yorkers owe a great debt. His wise counsel helped guide the city and the Law Department through many highs and lows, in particular the Sept.11 tragedy.”
Zachary Carter, the current corporation counsel, said, “Jeff is a living New York City institution. He is a legal icon who has served the city through its many ups and downs, including the fiscal crisis of the 1970s and the horrors of Sept. 11. He’s been as solid as a rock, the kind of person everyone relies on and looks to for astute, insightful, laser-sharp legal advice. Since coming here last year, I have come to regard Jeff both as a trusted confidant and a good friend. It’s our great loss that he is retiring.”
