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President Joe Biden appointed Breon Peace to serve as the new US Attorney in the district, where he will be responsible for all federal criminal and civil cases in a district comprised of more than 8 million people.
The Eastern District includes Kings, Nassau, Queens, Richmond, and Suffolk counties and works concurrently with the Southern District of New York.
Peace, age 50, replaces Mark Lesko, the former federal prosecutor, and Brookhaven Town Supervisor, who held the position on an acting basis since March.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who recommended Peace and two others to take over the position earlier this year, praised the native New Yorker for both his professionalism and personality.
“Despite his considerable legal success as an accomplished attorney and as a partner at one of the nation’s top law firms, like me, Breon Peace is a Brooklyn boy at heart,” Schumer said in March. “He is the son of a pastor and proud product of Crown Heights and Clara Barton High School, who never forgot where he came from.
“And those principles of rootedness in community and treating all people with dignity and respect have been the twin pillars of his career."
Before his new appointment, Peace was a partner in New York at the office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and was a member of the firm’s White-Collar Defense & Investigations and Litigation Groups.
Peace also has experience as an Assistant US Attorney and acting professor of clinical law at the NYU School of Law.
In his new position, Peace will be supervising a staff of approximately 163 Assistant US. Attorneys and 116 support personnel.
“I am honored to serve as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York,” Peace said following his appointment. “This Office has a long history of excellence, integrity, and outstanding service to the community.
“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,” he continued. “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.”
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