Carolyn Pokorny ’94 to Serve as Acting U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of New York

First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District (EDNY) of New York Carolyn Pokorny ’94 will step in as Acting U.S. Attorney after current U.S. Attorney for EDNY Breon Peace steps down on Jan. 10.  

Peace, who has served in the position of Brooklyn U.S. Attorney since Oct. 15, 2021, and was appointed by President Joe Biden, announced his resignation today. President-elect Donald Trump has not yet announced his pick for the role.  

In the meantime, Pokorny, who has already held a series of high-profile positions in public service, will take on the new title. She has been in her current position at EDNY, one of the largest U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the country, since January 2022, overseeing a team of over 280 lawyers and support staff across Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island. She had previously served as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division of the office between 1999 and 2014, prosecuting virtually every type of case from complex fraud schemes and corruption to racketeering and murder.  

Before her current role, Pokorny was the first female Inspector General of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), where she served as the watchdog for the transit agency for three years, from 2019 to 2022. Previously, Pokorny was in the New York State Executive Chamber between 2017 to 2019, serving first as Chief Special Counsel for Ethics, Risk and Compliance and then as Special Counsel for Public Integrity, Office of the Governor. From 2015 to 2017, she was Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, in Washington, D.C.  

Read a recent interview with Pokorny in Brooklyn Law Notes, while she was still at the MTA, here.