Allison Greenfield, who gained attention during Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial last year due to his disparaging remarks about her, has been elected as a judge in New York City.
The 38-year-old legal professional was among a group of six candidates for the available six positions on Manhattan’s civil court, which deals with small claims and other less significant legal matters. In February, a local Democratic committee endorsed her without opposition, allowing Greenfield to run unchallenged in the general election held on Tuesday.
During her tenure as the principal law clerk to Judge Arthur Engoron, Greenfield often found herself at the center of Trump’s attacks.
Following a derogatory social media post from Trump on the second day of the trial, Judge Engoron imposed a gag order intended to prevent any negative comments about court personnel from individuals involved in the proceedings.
Trump was subsequently fined $15,000 for breaching this order on two occasions, and Judge Engoron later extended the gag order to include Trump’s legal team after they criticized Greenfield for allegedly passing notes to the judge.
The defense claimed that Greenfield was functioning as a “de facto co-judge” and questioned whether her political affiliations influenced her actions, which they viewed as indicative of an anti-Trump bias.
Attorney Christopher Kise, representing Trump, stated that it felt as though he was combating two opponents in the courtroom, to which Engoron asserted his unequivocal right to seek Greenfield’s counsel.
The Trump legal team subsequently motioned for a mistrial, a request that Engoron denied, especially after conservative news outlet Breitbart News highlighted a complaint suggesting that Greenfield had breached court policies by donating to Democratic-affiliated causes.
Many of these donations were made during her unsuccessful bid for a judgeship in 2022.
Getting elected to the civil court often serves as a stepping stone to positions on New York’s main trial court, known as the State Supreme Court. Judge Engoron himself began his judicial career on the civil court before advancing to the trial court about ten years later.
Greenfield earned her undergraduate degree in economics and politics from New York University and graduated with a law degree from Cardozo School of Law in Manhattan in 2010. She started her role with Judge Engoron in 2019, following her previous experience as a lawyer for the city.