Eric Schneiderman
Eric Schneiderman
Attorney General, State of New York
Eric T. Schneiderman was elected the 65th Attorney General of New York State on November 2, 2010. As the highest ranking law enforcement officer for the State, Eric has taken on the tough fights to protect New Yorkers – because he believes there has to be one set of rules for everyone, no matter how rich or powerful.
Eric knows that the deck is stacked against everyday New Yorkers who work hard and play by the rules. That's why he locked up corrupt politicians who ripped off taxpayers, prosecuted companies that gouged victims of hurricane Sandy, and took on the big banks that led us into recession.
When the federal government cut funding for bulletproof vests for New York's police officers, he stepped in and used funds he recovered from drug traffickers to pay for bulletproof vests for local police departments.
He’s worked to provide relief for families hit hard by the housing crisis. Eric created the Homeownership Protection Program to help New Yorkers at risk of foreclosure stay in their homes, a program that has already served more than 43,000 homeowners. And he led the national effort that secured a $16.7 billion settlement with Bank of America and a $13 billion settlement with JP Morgan Chase for their roles in the housing crisis. These are the largest two settlement of their kind in US history.
Eric has fought for justice for all workers, defending their right to a fair and decent wage for a full day’s work. Since 2011, Attorney General Schneiderman has successfully secured more than $20 million in restitution for to more than 17,000 workers across New York. Eric has also taken on big financial institutions that use illegal tactics referred to as Insider Trading 2.0 to gain unfair advantage over average investors.
While taking down drug trafficking rings that pump illegal drugs into our neighborhoods, Eric also created the Community Overdose Prevention program – a $5 million commitment to equip law enforcement agencies with naloxone, an life-saving antidote that can immediately stop a heroin overdose.
Before becoming Attorney General, Eric was praised as a leading reformer in the State Senate by numerous editorial pages and good government organizations. Among his many legislative accomplishments, Eric led the effort to reform the broken and outdated Rockefeller drug laws, and cracked down on health insurance companies trying to deny coverage to vulnerable New Yorkers. He chaired the committee to expel a corrupt senator for the first time in modern history, and enacted the toughest law in the nation to root out fraud against taxpayers.
Eric previously served as a public interest lawyer, representing tenants trying to evict drug dealers from their buildings, women seeking access to health clinics, and taxpayers in historic lawsuits against the MTA. He also spent 15 years in private practice at the firm of Kirkpatrick and Lockhart.
Eric graduated from Amherst College in 1977 and Harvard Law School in 1982. He is the proud father of a daughter, Catherine.