New York City Acquisition Fund to Have Exclusive Focus on M/WBEs and Nonprofits

The fund currently has $210 million in lendable proceeds. On January 21, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio, along with the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Housing Development Corporation, Enterprise Community Partners, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and a coalition of public, private and philanthropic partners announced that the New York City Acquisition Fund (NYCAF) will exclusively serve Minority and Women-Owned Businesses (M/WBEs) and nonprofits to support affordable <Read More>


EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: JCOPE CLE – “Ethics and Innovation in New York State: Navigating Conflicts When Government is a Partner”

The New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics and the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School are pleased to announce

“Ethics and Innovation in New York State: Navigating Conflicts When Government is A Partner”

When: Tuesday, October 13, 2020 at 12:30 PM
Where: Zoom, program materials and login information will be provided to registrants 24 hours prior to the event.
Credits: 1.5 CLE credits in Ethics &
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Jason Adolfo Otaño, General Counsel for the New York City Council

Jason Adolfo Otaño, the General Counsel for the New York City Council, was born to Puerto Rican parents and grew up in the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn. Otaño’s father was a City firefighter for 28 years, his mother a paraprofessional for the Department of Education, and his uncle a captain for the Department of Corrections.


Richard Briffault: Charting a Pragmatic Path to a Good Government

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 … <Read More>


CityLaw Profile: Pei Pei Cheng-de Castro

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 … <Read More>