Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark appoints 40 new lawyers to her office

The Bronx District Attorney’s office, which has been riddled with turnover, now has 40 new assistant district attorneys (ADAs).

Their Tuesday appointments now make 381 attorneys on staff, according to Patrice O’Shaughnessy, a spokesperson for Bronx District Attorney (DA) Darcel Clark.

“This diverse class of Assistant District Attorneys will undergo vigorous training to ensure that they serve the Bronx community in the most professional, compassionate way,” Clark said. “Alongside our experienced and dedicated staff, these new prosecutors will help us bring justice for victims and fairness to defendants while preserving public safety.”

The attorneys come from law schools around NYC — like Cardozo, New York Law School, Brooklyn Law and the City College of New York — as well as across the country. About half are women, according to the DA’s office.

During Clark’s successful primary election earlier this year, her challenger Tess Cohen described the DA’s office as “in crisis” with turnover rates higher than any of the other borough’s DA offices.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, 305 staffers — including 152 attorneys — left the office with an astounding overall attrition rate of about 30%, and 37% for legal staffers, according to Clark’s testimony from March. From July 2022 to March 2023, the office lost another 79 ADAs, or 22% of the office’s attorneys.

The issue isn’t new. Clark’s office lost 96 attorneys and 51 professional staff in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, with a staggering 21% attrition rate for lawyers and about 14% for both legal and professional staff, according to Clark.

Clark and Cohen both blamed salaries and the state’s discovery reform law, which modified the process for evidence sharing between prosecutors and defense lawyers. Prior to reforms, defense attorneys struggled to access evidence necessary to best represent their clients, in turn leading people to accept plea deals versus going to trial. While reforms improved defense lawyers’ access to evidence, opponents argue that the workload has caused too much of a burden for prosecutors. However, the FY 2024 state budget allocated $170 million to better implement the reform for prosecutors and defenders, including $50 million for technology improvements in NYC.

Clark — who has held the seat since 2015 and faces no GOP challenger this November– first started working in the office as an ADA herself, in 1986.

On Tuesday, the new appointees started a three-month training program, which includes lectures on criminal court practice and professional responsibility, court proceeding observations and workshops.

Clark’s office also announced the hiring of 49 ADAs in October 2022.

Thirty-nine of the new ADAs and their alma maters are: