City Council confirms Hon. Hinds-Radix as NYC corporation counsel

Brooklyn jurist was nominated by Adams in January

February 25, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Mayor Eric Adams, left, is sworn in by Appellate Justice Sylvia Hinds-Radix, right. Photo by Ben Hider/Invision/AP

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The City Council unanimously voted on Thursday to confirm Appellate Division, Second Department Justice Sylvia Hinds-Radix as New York City’s new corporation counsel.

Hon. Sylvia Hinds-Radix, an Appellate judge who has been active in, and well-respected by, the Brooklyn legal community for many years, was nominated by Mayor Eric Adams to her new post in January.

Hinds-Radix will be the first Caribbean-born woman to serve as Corporation Counsel in New York City’s history. As corporation counsel, she will lead the Law Department, which is primarily responsible for providing legal representation to the city, the mayor, other elected officials and city agencies in all affirmative and defensive civil litigation.

Hinds-Radix also conducted the mayor’s swearing-in ceremony at the Times Square New Year’s Celebration.

She has most recently served as an associate justice of the New York State Appellate Division, Second Department in Brooklyn Heights and in 2020 was designated a member of the New York State Constitutional Bench.

New York City’s new Corporation Counsel, Sylvia Hinds-Radix. Eagle file photo by Mario Belluomo

“The Law Department plays an indispensable role in providing the legal architecture needed for the administration to carry out its vision. Sylvia Hinds-Radix has not only the brilliant legal mind, but also the emotional intelligence needed to lead the department as our next corporation counsel. I congratulate her on her history-making appointment,” said Adams in January.

“I am honored to have been nominated by Mayor Eric Adams to undertake this tremendous responsibility of representing the people of this great city, as New York City’s corporation counsel. At this particular time in our history, with all of the challenges that we are facing, I look forward to ensuring that fairness and justice is carried out for the residents of the City of New York,” Corporation Counsel Hinds-Radix said upon her nomination.

Prior to her appointment to the Appellate Division, Hinds-Radix served as administrative judge for civil matters in the Second Judicial District for three and a half years. In her capacity as administrative judge, she oversaw both the New York State Supreme Court, Civil Term and the New York City Civil Court, which also encompasses the Housing Court of the City of New York.

Hinds-Radix was elected to the Supreme Court, Kings County in November 2004 and served as a New York City Civil Court Judge, from 2002 through 2004, spending her first year in the Criminal Court of Kings County. She began her legal career at District Council 37 Municipal Employees Legal Services.

She earned a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts, a Masters from Long Island University, and a J.D. from Howard University School of Law. She was born in Barbados. She is also a former president of the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association.

Under the City Charter, the nominee for Corporation Counsel must be confirmed by the City Council.