Brooklyn Has A New Top Federal Prosecutor: What To Know

BROOKLYN, NY — A new top federal prosecutor has officially taken over Brooklyn's Eastern District courts, officials announced.

Breon Peace, who was recently confirmed by the U.S. Senate, was sworn in Friday as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which oversees Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and parts of Long Island.

Peace — a former assistant U.S. attorney and partner at law firm Cleary Gottlieb — replaces acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis and is the fourth prosecutor to hold the post this year.

“I look forward to leading the Office’s incredibly talented and dedicated women and men in addressing present and future challenges in the Eastern District," Peace said in a press release. "We will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to pursue equal justice under the law, and protect and serve the people of the district. I am eager to get to work."

The New York University Law alumnus was the first African American man to be elected partner at Cleary, which he joined in 1996, officials said.

He went on to serve two years as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, was a professor of Clinical Law at NYU and has led high-profile cases including a 2012 lawsuit alleging discrimination at the New York City Fire Department in their hiring of Black and Hispanic firefighters.

Peace has also done pro bono work in criminal, immigration, human trafficking and civil rights cases, including a successful 2016 case on behalf of a man who had spent nearly 30 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murder, rape and robbery, officials said.

Peace is one of two new top federal prosecutors in New York City. Damian Williams, also confirmed in October, recently took over as U.S. Attorney for Manhattan's Southern District.

Brooklyn's Eastern District has had three acting U.S. attorneys this year, including Kasulis, who took over when acting prosecutor Mark Lesko was appointed acting Attorney General for the National Security Division at the United States Justice Department. Lesko had taken over for Seth DuCharme, who stepped down in March to transition into private practice.