Michael A. Cardozo

Michael A. Cardozo is an American lawyer.

From 2002 through the end of 2013, he was the Corporation Counsel for the Government of New York City, New York (a position appointed by the mayor). Cardozo is a partner at the law firm Proskauer Rose, and a former president of the New York City Bar Association. His great grandfather's first cousin was United States Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo.^[2]

Early life and education

Michael A. Cardozo was born on June 28, 1941 in New York City to Lucile and Harmon Cardozo. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963 from Brown University, located in Providence, Rhode Island; and his Juris Doctorate degree in 1966 from the Columbia Law School, located in New York City. After graduation, Cardozo served as a law clerk to Judge Edward C. McLean in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He married the former Nancy Caryn Cogut in Roslyn, New York on June 20, 1965. They have two children: Hedy (born November 9, 1967 who is married to Michael N. Rosenblut) and Sheryl (born December 25, 1970 who is married to Adi Diner). They have twin grandchildren, Lucy and Josh Rosenblut, born May 26, 2004.

Career

In 1967, he joined the law firm of Proskauer Rose and became a member of the Litigation Department. He became a partner in 1974 and served in that capacity until 2002 when he was appointed Corporation Counsel. While at Proskauer Cardzo was co-head of its Sports Law Practice and represented, among other clients, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer. Cardozo was elected three times to the firm's executive committee, and co-chaired its litigation department from 1987 to 1991.^[3] He returned to the firm as a partner in 2014.

In January 2002, he was appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg as the city's 77th Corporation Counsel, its chief legal officer. He served in that role for 12 years for the full 3 term tenure of the Mayor, the longest anyone has served in that capacity since the Office was created in the mid 19th century. During Cardozo's tenure the city's payout of settlement and judgments declilned by 14 percent. Cardozo advised on scores of significant litigations, handling some of them himself. Under his direction, the Law Department brought successful suits concerning the illegal use of guns and the improper sale of cigarettes, and defended a major class action discrimination suit against the Fire Department, numerous challenges to the health care initiatives of Mayor Bloomberg, and steps taken in connection with the Occupy Wall Street and Republican National Convention demonstrations. Cardozo personally argued several high-level cases on the city's behalf including a real estate tax dispute with the government of India, in which he prevailed before the U.S. Supreme Court. He also litigated and won a $2 billion bond case in the New York Court of Appeals. ].^[4]

Civic involvement

A long-time member of the New York City Bar Association, he served as the organization's president from 1996 to 1998. He also previously served as Chair of the Columbia Law School Board of Visitors and the Fund for Modern Courts, a non-partisan citizen organization devoted to improving New York State courts. He also previously chaired two court-system task forces appointed by New York Governor Mario Cuomo and Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals Sol Wachtler.

Among the honors Cardozo has received are: The Federal Bar Council’s Emory Buckner Award for outstanding public service; The Fund for Modern Courts’ Cyrus R. Vance Tribute for dedicated work towards judicial reform; Columbia University Law School’s Lawrence A. Wien Prize for Social Responsibility; George A. Katz Torch of Learning Award from American Friends of Hebrew University; New York Law Journal’s Impact Award and The Fund for Modern Courts Career Public Service Award.

See also

• List of Brown University people
• List of Columbia Law School alumni
• List of people from New York City

References

Notes

Sources

• Chen, David W. (December 17, 2009). "From State Judges, a Rebuke of Top Bloomberg Adviser". The New York Times. Retrieved February 13, 2012.

Proskauer Rose web site.

External links

• "About the Law Department", official portal of the New York City Law Department on nyc.gov, the city's official website