Overview
- The New York Post, citing a transition source, reports that CUNY law professor Ramzi Kassem is the leading candidate for Chief Counsel in Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s administration, a role described as the mayor’s top legal adviser; neither Mamdani nor Kassem has confirmed.
- Kassem serves on Mamdani’s legal transition team and previously advised the Biden administration on immigration policy in 2022.
- He founded CUNY’s CLEAR clinic in 2009, which offers free legal representation and has received over $3 million from Open Society Foundations and at least $1 million from MacKenzie Scott, according to public records.
- Kassem represented Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia pro-Palestinian encampment leader detained by ICE, who was released after judges ruled in his favor following 104 days in custody.
- He helped defend Ahmed al-Darbi, convicted in 2017 for the 2002 bombing of the French tanker Limburg, and his past anti-Israel writings have drawn criticism, with Democratic operative Ken Frydman objecting and attorney Ron Kuby voicing support; CAIR honored Kassem in September, and Texas and Florida label CAIR a foreign terrorist organization.