Michael Cardozo
 Michael Cardozo      (lawyer) | ||||||||||||||
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| Born | Michael A. Cardozo June 28, 1941 New York City, New York, U.S. | |||||||||||||
| Nationality | US | |||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Brown University, Columbia Law School | |||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Spouse | Nancy Caryn Cogut | |||||||||||||
| Party | Democratic | |||||||||||||
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Michael A. Cardozo is an American lawyer. From 2002 through the end of 2013, he was the Corporation Counsel for the Government of New York City, New York (a position appointed by the mayor). Cardozo is a partner at the law firm Proskauer Rose, and a former president of the New York City Bar Association. His great grandfather's first cousin was United States Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo.[1]
Early life and education
Michael A. Cardozo was born on June 28, 1941 in New York City to Lucile and Harmon Cardozo. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963 from Brown University, located in Providence, Rhode Island, and his Juris Doctor degree in 1966 from Columbia Law School, located in New York City. After graduation, Cardozo served as a law clerk to Judge Edward C. McLean in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Career
In 1967, he joined the law firm of Proskauer Rose and became a member of the Litigation Department. He became a partner in 1974 and served in that capacity until 2002 when he was appointed Corporation Counsel. While at Proskauer Cardozo was co-head of its Sports Law Practice and represented, among other clients, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer. Cardozo was elected three times to the firm's executive committee, and co-chaired its litigation department from 1987 to 1991.
In January 2002, Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed him the City's 77th Corporation Counsel, the City's chief legal officer. In that capacity he served as head of the City's 700 lawyer Law Department and as legal counsel to Mayor Bloomberg, elected officials, the City and all its agencies. He held that role for 12 years for the full 3-term tenure of the Mayor, the longest anyone has served in that capacity since the Office was created in the mid-19th century.
In 2014, Cardozo returned to Proskauer where he is a senior litigation partner handling commercial litigations of all types and suits against New York City, New Jersey and Florida.
