Richard Briffault. Image credit: CityLaw.

Richard Briffault, Chair of the Conflicts of Interest Board, brings a long record of public service to his current position. A product of the City public school system, Briffault graduated from Columbia University and obtained his law degree from Harvard. He was broadly interested in government as a young man and quickly entered public service, working from 1980 to 1982 as an assistant counsel to Governor Hugh Carey. The position gave him broad opportunity to learn how the State engaged with agencies, with the City, and with the private sector. (more…)

Pei Pei Cheng-de Castro, the Director of Investigation and Enforcement at the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics, has had a diverse career in which public service has remained a constant. Education has also been at the core of Cheng-de Castro’s career—she taught legal writing at New York Law School, founded a charter school, and now works for an agency that educates public officials on ethics laws as part of its mission.

Cheng-de Castro was born in Taiwan and raised in Southern California. After studying economics, environmental science, and education at U.C. Berkeley, she attended New York Law School with the goal of working for non-profit organizations and government agencies. (more…)

On August 24, 2016, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Chapter 286 of the Laws of 2016 which amends the State’s ethics laws. The legislation is not a transformational game changer in the ethics arena, but does make significant changes in the State’s laws. The new law vests the Attorney General with authority to disclose sources of funding for various not-for-profit entities, expands the disclosure of all sources of funding by those engaging in lobbying, and codifies certain process rights that could have a profound impact on the ethics climate in New York State.

The amendments will impact how the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) regulates lobbying and public ethics. This article examines fundamental changes to the Public Officers Law, Legislative Law (Lobbying Act), and Executive Law and their impact on the regulation of public ethics in New York State especially by JCOPE. (more…)

Carolyn Lisa Miller.

Carolyn Lisa Miller was born in Manhattan and raised in Edison, New Jersey. After graduating from Princeton University in 1992 with an English degree, she earned a JD from Columbia Law School in 1995. Miller has worked almost exclusively as a government attorney since she graduated law school.

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Wayne Hawley. Image credit: NYC Conflicts of Interest Board

Wayne Hawley has served with the Conflicts of Interest Board since 1999. Born in California, Hawley grew up in a military family and moved frequently, completing high school in Virginia before returning to California as an undergrad at Claremont McKenna College. He relocated to the East Coast again for Yale Law School, then in his words, “followed the bouncing ball” back to Los Angeles for two years of private practice. Hawley crossed the country again to work as staff counsel to the Cleveland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, finally arriving in New York City as executive director of MFY Legal Services in 1985. He held that position until joining the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board in 1999.

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