Asim Rehman, a veteran attorney specializing in police oversight, litigation and internal investigations, has joined the New York City Law Department as chief of staff to Corporation Counsel James "Jim" Johnson, the office announced Monday.

Rehman joins the Law Department from the Office of the Inspector General for the New York City Police Department, where he had served as first deputy inspector general since 2017, overseeing investigations and policy reviews, as well as supervising the office's legal department.

In his new role, Rehman will serve primarily as a strategic adviser and counsel to Johnson, who was selected by Mayor Bill de Blasio to serve as the city's top lawyer in October. He will also be tasked with managing the Law Department's diverse portfolio, which touches on all aspects of the 1,000-lawyer organization's work, including legal questions related to high-profile policy initiatives and  communicating with staff and the mayor's office. The City Law Department also employs more than 800 support staff, according to its website.

In a statement, Johnson said Rehman was an "excellent attorney" who had the skill set and experience to advance the Law Department's mission of serving the common good.

"As chief of staff for one of the nation's largest public law firms, Asim will work across the board on a variety of issues," Johnson said. "Whether addressing our office's significant expansion with issues like Raise the Age or engaging with client agencies and other partners on initiatives to protect all New Yorkers, Asim will be outstanding."

Rehman's move to the Law Department marks a reunion of sorts with Johnson, a former Debevoise & Plimpton litigator whom Rehman described as a "mentor."

Rehman said he was paired with Johnson as a young Debevoise associate after joining the firm in 2002. In an interview with the New York Law Journal, Rehman said their relationship at first was similar to most at a large law firm, but Johnson, then an experienced litigation partner, soon "began to open doors" and push Rehman into new areas of the law.

When Rehman left Debevoise to take a job as a special assistant in the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, he recalled a formative piece of advice that Johnson gave him. "The advice was, 'Remember that your client is the public,'" he said.

Since then, Rehman said, the two men have taken on a "peer-mentor" relationship that is now set to take on a new dimension.

"Now that we're here together, it's much less about the relationship Jim and I have and more about how we grow the Law Department," he said.

Before his work with the inspector general's office, Rehman served as corporate counsel in MetLife Inc.'s legal department, where he helped manage the insurance firm's global litigation docket and co-led its e-discovery initiatives. A co-founder and former president of the Muslim Bar Association of New York, Rehman has also done extensive pro bono work and has engaged with government agencies and community groups on a range of civil rights issues.

Rehman said his broad experience with the law and operations management had taught him how to "make things happen in government," a quality he said would serve him well in his new job.

"The challenge is one of scale," he explained. "This is a large, complex organization that's serving the legal needs of the entire city structure."

"The dedicated professionals of the New York City Law Department work hard every day to promote and protect the city's well-being, and I am thrilled to be joining their ranks," Rehman said.

Read More: