Apr. 25, 2023 By Bill Parry
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz has appointed a new chief of staff and new prosecutors to her staff.
Katz announced the appointment of Wendy Erdly as chief of staff after nearly a decade of public service experience, mainly at the New York State Department of Financial Services, as deputy superintendent for cybersecurity.
Erdly served as chief of staff at the New York State Department of Financial Services prior to being named Deputy Superintendent for Cybersecurity. Previously, she had been Special Counsel for Ethics, Risk, and Compliance at the New York State Liquor Authority, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, and the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation. Erdly was counsel to many companies through Axiom Legal, including United Technologies, Unilever, and Kraft. She had been an attorney in private practice at Bernstein, Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, and Dewey & LeBoeuf.
“I am pleased to welcome Ms. Erdly to the Queens District Attorney’s Office,” Katz said. “Her experience as a public administration executive and corporate counsel is impressive, and we are fortunate that she has brought her talents to our team.”
Erdly was named one of the “Best Under 40” lawyers by the National LGBT Law Association. She graduated from Lafayette College with a B.A. and earned a J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School. Katz also announced the appointment of five new assistant district attorneys to join the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
The new ADAs began their prosecutorial careers with a two-week-long training program that included lectures, courtroom observation, and interactive workshops. They also learned about alternative sentencing options from members of the Rehabilitation Programs and Restorative Services Bureau. The class will later join our upcoming Fall 2023 hires for several more weeks of additional training.
These new assistants will be assigned to the District Attorney’s Intake Bureau and they will be eligible for assignments in the Investigations or Trials Divisions.
The new prosecutors and the law schools from which they graduated include the following: Matthew Thomas De Bari, BPP University Law School; Joshua Garton, Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University; Nicholas Isaacson, New York University School of Law; Catherine Jungmin Kim, The George Washington University Law School; and Mary Frances Roth, Fordham University School of Law.
“I am proud to welcome this group of talented professionals into the Queens District Attorney’s office,” Katz said. “ I look forward to working with them in support of this office’s mission to keep those who live and work in Queens County safe while helping to ensure the criminal justice system is fairer for all.”