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Mayor de Blasio Appoints New Members to Mayor's Committee on City Marshals

August 12, 2015

NEW YORK—Mayor Bill de Blasio today appointed 13 new members to the Mayor’s Committee on City Marshals. The committee establishes qualifying criteria for marshal candidates, identifies and recruits candidates, and recommends qualified individuals for appointment by the Mayor.

“New York City’s Marshals help enforce civil court orders across the five boroughs, providing an important public service to our city’s residents,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “This new Committee on City Marshals is made up of members who represent our city’s diverse communities, and I trust they will recommend highly qualified marshal candidates to serve our city.”

The Mayor appoints six committee members directly. Three members are appointed after selection by the Presiding Justice of the 1st Judicial Department, three after selection by the Presiding Justice of the 2nd Judicial Department, and three after selection by the Deans of three New York City law schools, who each choose one member. This board is uncompensated, and each committee member’s term runs concurrent with the Mayor’s, except for law school Dean selections, who serve one-year terms. The committee meets three to four times per year.

New York City authorizes up to 83 City Marshals to serve as enforcement officers of the Civil Court. City Marshals enforce orders from Civil Court cases, such as collecting on judgments, towing, seizing utility meters and carrying out evictions. Marshals collectively perform approximately 25,000 evictions per year. Marshals are regulated by the Department of Investigation but, unlike the City Sheriff, they are not City employees. Marshals collect fees, which are set by statute, from the private litigants whose judgments they enforce, and they also retain 5 percent of any money they collect on judgments. Marshals must pay an annual assessment to the City consisting of $1,500 plus 4.5 percent of their gross income.

New Committee Members:

Mayoral Selections:

Louis Hernandez presently serves as an Assistant Supervisor in the United States Marshal Service, having previously served as an Assistant Financial Administrator with the USMS. Previously, Hernandez was Director of Investigations at the Office of the New York State Comptroller. He also served numerous assignments in the New York City Police Department, including President of the NYPD’s Hispanic Society from 2001-2002, retiring as a First Grade Detective while assigned to the Intelligence Division. 

Joseph Borrero currently serves as an Associate at Wasserman, Grubin & Rogers LLP, where he focuses on real estate, construction, and breach of contract litigation. Previously, Borrero was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, specializing in complex litigation, including securities and antitrust matters. He is a member of the Board of Directors of The Maple Street School and is the New York Deputy Regional President of the Hispanic National Bar Association. Borrero is a graduate of SUNY Albany and The George Washington University Law School where he graduated with High Honors, was a member of The George Washington University Law Review, and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Sateesh Nori is currently the Attorney in Charge of the Legal Aid Society’s Queens Neighborhood Office. He was the Director of Housing Litigation at Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Legal Services and worked for many years as a housing staff attorney in Brooklyn and in Upper Manhattan. He has served as Chair of the Housing Court Committee of the New York City Bar Association. He is currently a member of the Housing Court Advisory Council. Nori is a graduate of John Hopkins University and New York University School of Law.

Charles DeStefano currently runs his own law practice, and is actively involved in his community on various boards, including El Centro de Trabajadores, Jacques Marchais Tibetan Museum of Art, the Richmond County Bar Association, the Pro Bono Scholars Program of the Second Department Appellate Division, and through pro bono work with St. Mary’s Church and Our Lady of Good Counsel. He is the Immediate Past President of the Staten Island Trial Lawyers Association and serves on their Board of Directors. DeStefano is a graduate of Fordham University and received his J.D. from Pace University.

Samidh Guha is a Partner at the international law firm Jones Day, and has four years of experience as a federal prosecutor in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. He has also worked in the Baltimore City Public Schools system and was recently awarded the Abely Pro Bono Achievement award for his efforts to combat human trafficking. Guha is a graduate of Amherst College, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Selections of the Presiding Justice, Appellate Division, 1st Department:

Marissa Soto currently runs her own private practice in Bronx, New York, and has previously worked for Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP and as judicial law clerk to the Hon. Martin Glenn of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. She is a Director of the New York Council on Adoptable Children, Inc., the Vice-President of the Puerto Rican Bar Association and a graduate of New York University School of Law. 

David DeStefano runs a solo law practice focusing in criminal defense and civil litigation, and previously served as an associate with Meringolo and Associates, P.C. He has also volunteered as an advocate and trainer for the Unemployent Action Center, Inc. DeStefano is a graduate of Fordham University and New York Law School.

Selections of the Presiding Justice, Appellate Division, 2nd Department:

Charles J. Thomas currently serves as a Judicial Hearing Officer for the New York State Unified Court System. He also has 22 years of experience as a Supreme Court Justice in the State of New York Eleventh Judicial District and six years prior to that as a Civil Court judge. Thomas is a graduate of Brooklyn College and Brooklyn Law School.

Steven Bamundo is currently a Managing Partner at Bamundo, Zwal & Schermerhorn, LLP, and has previously served as Managing Partner at Cooper, Bamundo, Hecht, and Longworth. He is also the Executive Director of the Columbian Lawyers Association of Brooklyn. Bamundo is a graduate of Fordham University and New York Law School.

Sandra M. Muñoz currently runs a solo practice specializing in family and matrimonial law. She previously served as a staff attorney for Her Justice, where she co-created Poder Latina, an educational initiative for immigrant Latina women in Manhattan and Queens. Muñoz is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College and the City University of New York School of Law.

Selections of Law School Deans:

Brooklyn Law School:Miriam Baer is a Professor at Brooklyn Law School, where she teaches criminal law, criminal procedure, corporations and white collar crime. She has previously served as Assistant General Counsel for Compliance at Verizon and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Baer is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.

Cardozo Law School:Andrew Goldberg Andrew Goldberg formerly served as Supervising Attorney at MFY Legal Services, and as General Counsel and Supervising Attorney at New York Public Interest Research Group, Inc. He has also held several teaching roles in both the United States and China, including Hunter College, New York Law School and Wuhan University Law School. Goldberg is a graduate of Columbia University and received his JD from Yeshiva University.

NYU Law School: Zachary Goldman currently serves as Executive Director of the Center of Law and Security and an Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU Law School, and previously served as an Associate in the litigation department of Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP. He began his career as a Policy Advisor in the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and as a Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the U.S. Department of Defense.  Goldman is a graduate of Harvard University, the London School of Economics, and New York University School of Law.

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