New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is reportedly looking to install CUNY law professor Ramzi Kassem, known for representing accused terrorists, as his top legal adviser at City Hall, according to sources familiar with the transition, the New York Post reports. The move has stirred controversy among political insiders and members of the Jewish community, who question whether Kassem’s record aligns with the responsibilities of the city’s chief lawyer.
Ramzi Kassem, 47, teaches at the City University of New York School of Law and serves on Mamdani’s legal transition team. Sources say he is now the leading contender to become Chief Counsel, the mayor’s top attorney and the primary legal authority for all city agencies.
Kassem previously helped found a CUNY legal clinic called CLEAR (Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility), which offers free legal services to Muslims and other marginalized New Yorkers. The clinic has taken on high-profile national security and terrorism-related cases, further raising Kassem’s public profile.
Kassem’s critics point first to his past clients. According to The Post, he represented Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian national and pro-Palestinian Columbia University activist who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and slated for deportation; after 104 days in custody, a court ordered his release. He also defended Ahmed al-Darbi, an al Qaeda member convicted in 2017 for his role in the 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker Limburg near Yemen.
Democratic strategist Ken Frydman argued that while everyone is entitled to legal representation, Kassem’s choice to take on such clients could alienate Jewish New Yorkers if he becomes the city’s top lawyer. Others counter that his work reflects a commitment to civil liberties, even for deeply unpopular defendants.
Kassem’s activism at Columbia University has also drawn attention. He participated in anti-Israel protests while attending law school there on a fellowship backed by left-leaning benefactors, including members of the Soros family, The Post reports. In a 1999 letter to the Columbia Spectator, he blasted a campus eatery for naming a sandwich an “Israeli wrap,” saying it insulted Muslims and Arabs.
In other opinion pieces for the same publication, Kassem accused Israel of engaging in “a clear case of ethnic cleansing” and argued that a two-state solution with the Palestinians was neither realistic nor desirable. Those remarks now fuel concerns among opponents that his views on the Middle East could influence his work in city government.
In September, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) honored Kassem for his advocacy on Khalil’s behalf. CAIR, the largest Muslim civil-rights group in the United States, has itself become a lightning rod, especially after Texas and Florida moved to designate it as a foreign terrorist organization.
Kassem’s legal and policy work has already extended into the federal government. In 2022, the Biden administration brought him on as a senior policy adviser focusing on immigration issues. That experience is now cited by supporters who say he is well-prepared to oversee New York City’s sprawling legal apparatus.
Kassem is not the only figure under consideration for Chief Counsel, however. According to The Post, the shortlist also includes Steven Banks, a self-described “social justice attorney” whose possible appointment has fueled worries among some insiders that Mamdani intends to install an aggressively activist legal team at City Hall.