Corporation Counsel names new NYC Law Department division chiefs

January 24, 2019 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Mindy Roller, chief of the Workers’ Compensation Division in the NYC Law Department. Photos courtesy of the NYC Law Department

Share this:

The New York City Law Department Corporation Counsel Zachary W. Carter announced two new appointments of division chiefs this week. Hilary Meltzer was named chief of the Environmental Law Division, and Mindy Roller was named chief of the Workers’ Compensation Division.

“As long standing members of the Law Department with decades of legal expertise in their respective fields, Hilary and Mindy have played integral roles in the divisions they will now lead,” said Carter. “They are superbly qualified leaders who will continue the tradition of excellence that has been the hallmark of their divisions to further the interests of all New Yorkers.”

As chief of the Environmental Law Division, Meltzer will lead litigation and counsel on numerous environmental issues in New York City. These include regular environmental reviews, climate change and resiliency oversight, protection of natural resources, open spaces and municipal infrastructure.

“I am excited to assume leadership of the Environmental Law Division and to work with my exceptional colleagues in this new capacity,” Meltzer said. “We will continue to work on a broad range of complex and challenging environmental issues related to the city’s municipal infrastructure and to participate on a national level in affirmative environmental advocacy, especially during this period when the federal government is rolling back essential environmental, health and safety protections.”

Roller has a reputation as an expert on New York workers’ compensation law, which she’ll need as she is charged with overseeing the division that administers workers’ compensation claims and hearings on behalf of injured city workers.

“I have been part of this division during my entire tenure at the Law Department, and it has been interesting, challenging and rewarding at every level,” Roller said. “We impact the lives of real people and are committed to doing the best job possible to insure that municipal employees injured at work receive the medical care and wage replacement to which they are entitled. We work daily to improve the workers’ compensation system to improve the process and outcomes for all stakeholders. It is an honor to follow upon the heels of my predecessor, John Sweeney, who has been an amazing mentor.”

Meltzer, a Yale Law School graduate, became deputy chief of the Environmental Law Division in 2010 after having joined immediately out of law school in 1992. She is co-chair of the Legal Affairs Committee of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies. She has also taught at Harvard Law School and New York Law School.

Roller was promoted to deputy chief of the division in 2002, after she initially joined the Workers’ Compensation Division in 1995. She has helped to run a system that administers 17,000 new claims annually and holds 15,000 hearings on behalf of city workers.