‘A dealbreaker’: Former Chevron lawyer faces opposition for NYC post
‘A dealbreaker’: Former Chevron lawyer faces opposition for NYC post
Mayor Adams’ pick for New York City’s top lawyer played a pivotal role in helping Chevron escape liability for a toxic legacy of pollution in Ecuador.
At the start of what would turn out to be a grueling 11-hour confirmation hearing before the New York City Council last week, Mayor Eric Adams’ pick for the city’s next top lawyer introduced himself as a “happy warrior” and “lifelong Democrat” with a laundry list of progressive accomplishments. He did not, during that introduction, mention his work as a lawyer for Big Oil.
Randy Mastro pleaded his case to the council as he might before a jury. Voice filled with emotion, he recounted his story as the grandson of Italian immigrants who has dedicated his career to pursuing social justice as a legal advocate. He talked about fighting for LGBTQ+ and civil rights, protections for workers, consumers, and the environment, public safety, and battling organized crime — things he said he could do on behalf of all New Yorkers.
Mastro faced steep odds with that appeal. A longtime trial attorney who worked as deputy mayor for Rudy Giuliani, Mastro’s nomination for Corporation Counsel has been met with heavy skepticism from many of the City Council’s 51 members. In April, the Council’s Black, Asian and Latino Caucus stated that “Mastro is unfit to serve as the city’s chief lawyer” given his “professional track record representing dubious clients.”
Indeed, Mastro’s list of clients include former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie during the “Bridgegate” scandal, New Jersey in its effort to block congestion pricing initiatives in New York, landlords fighting a local ordinance requiring buildings to make energy efficiency upgrades, and oil giant Chevron, in its years-long pursuit to evade liability for oil spills and billions of gallons of cancer-causing wastewater pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
During Mastro’s hearing on August 27, Council Member Jim Gennaro, who chairs the Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection, Resiliency & Waterfronts, used his first question to confront Mastro for his representation of Chevron in that case, and for listing it first on his resume among his most significant legal accomplishments.
“How can the environmental justice community and this council trust you to champion [environmental justice] issues and defend [environmental justice] legislation when you tout as your number one legal victory your triumph for Chevron in this case, in which Chevron perpetrated one of the worst episodes of environmental injustice on the planet, which is still going on today?” Gennaro asked.
“You got them a walk, and the Indigenous people are still suffering from Chevron’s environmental destruction,” he said. “That is, I believe, a dealbreaker.”
“He can’t have it both ways”
The case Gennaro referred to was Chevron’s racketeering case against Steven Donziger, the now-former human rights attorney who in 2011 won a $9.5 billion judgment against the oil giant on behalf of Indigenous people and small farmers in Ecuador. Mastro played a leading role in trying Chevron’s case, which accused Donziger of winning the Ecuadorian judgment through bribery and fraud. Chevron’s paid witness later recanted large parts of his testimony — but more than a decade after the judgment in Ecuador, none of the 30,000 plaintiffs have received a cent or seen a cleanup of the pollution still making them sick.
In an interview with ExxonKnews, Gennaro reaffirmed that Mastro’s choice to “shield Chevron” from accountability was “a dealbreaker in terms of him being a good fit.”
“What I was trying to get across to Mr. Mastro is that he can’t have it both ways,” Gennaro said. “He can’t be the protector of Chevron when they perpetrate one of the most egregious environmental injustices in recent memory, and stand on the side of environmental justice when it comes to policies in New York City.”
Council Member Sandy Nurse, who also serves on the Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection, echoed that sentiment. Mastro helped “a lucrative client get off the hook for poisoning poor Brown people in another country,” she told ExxonKnews. “This was a for-profit venture to work for people who are destroying the planet, who have no problem toxifying our ecosystems for money.”
“He has fought good cases and represented good organizations,” Nurse added. “But he didn’t have to take that case. If you are someone who is claiming to be a lawyer for social justice, you don’t get to pick and choose when you’re doing that.”
Protecting the justice system
In response to Gennaro’s questioning at the hearing, Mastro argued that “Steve Donziger committed litigation fraud” and “is the reason why that judgment [against Chevron] didn’t stand,” and “what we did [in that case] was to preserve and protect the integrity of the justice system.”
But the firm Mastro worked for as a leading litigation partner for 20 years, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, has been accused of gaming the justice system to help its corporate clients silence their opponents. Gibson Dunn developed what it called the “kill step” — reportedly enticing witnesses to claim plaintiffs committed fraud — when defending Dole against Nicaraguan banana workers exposed to a toxic pesticide. It leveraged that strategy again against Donziger, who wound up spending 45 days in prison and 993 days on house arrest, and lost his license to practice law. Now, the firm is representing pipeline company Energy Transfer in a defamation case against Greenpeace US for its work organizing against the Dakota Access pipeline.
Gibson Dunn has also pioneered a strategy to expand free speech protections for corporations, beginning with its historic win in Citizens United. Today, the firm is defending Chevron against climate deception cases filed by state and local governments across the country, which accuse the oil giant of misleading the public about the dangers its products would cause. Gibson Dunn argues those cases violate the company’s protected “political speech” under the First Amendment, and should be tossed out.
New York City filed its own climate deception lawsuit in 2021 against BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, and the American Petroleum Institute for “systematically and intentionally” misleading consumers “about the central role their products play in causing the climate crisis.”
Though Chevron isn’t named as a defendant, BP, Exxon, Shell and API have brought motions to dismiss the case under those same First Amendment arguments. (Mayor Adams has boasted publicly about meeting with the “hard-working New Yorkers powering our business sector” at Paul Weiss, the firm defending Exxon against the city.)
After reaching Gibson Dunn’s retirement age for top leadership positions, Mastro left Gibson Dunn for King & Spalding in 2022. During his hearing, he revealed that he’s in a dispute with the former firm over the terms of his departure.
Mastro’s bio at King & Spalding touts that “The New York Times has called him ‘the go-to lawyer for companies’ suing the government,” and references his victory in a “two-month RICO trial barring the enforcement of a $9 billion fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron.”
“I do not want someone to represent the City of New York who has no problem representing clients who do not have the interest of our future at heart, who are not committed to the long term viability of us to be here in New York City, given the challenges we have right now around a number of environmental issues,” Nurse said.
What’s next
The job of top lawyer for the nation’s most populous city is no small one: the position would reign over an 800-person law department, bring or defend any legal action brought by the city, and enjoy an indefinite term.
Mastro was nominated by Adams after the May resignation of Sylvia Hinds-Radix, who reportedly resisted defending a former NYPD inspector and friend of the mayor who was accused of sexual assault. Mastro donated $2,100 to Adams last October.
To get the position, Mastro would need to be confirmed by a majority of the 51-member City Council in a vote that will take place before September 15. But after the hearing, numerous anonymous sources told Fox 5 that Mastro is unlikely to have the votes he needs.
If you ask Steven Donziger, a New York City resident and the man who spent years tethered to an ankle monitor thanks to Chevron, the attorney is “the last person New York City should be thinking about for their lawyer.”
“Randy Mastro is a key reason for an ongoing environmental catastrophe that continues to kill people,” Donziger said. “The fact that tens of thousands of Indigenous peoples and farmers are suffering is Randy Mastro’s true legacy.”