S. Andrew Schaffer, Esq. was appointed Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters on February 1, 2005.  He began his career in law enforcement in 1972 as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office-Southern District of New York.  He also held a number of high-level positions in both the private sector and in city government, including Associate Director of the Vera Institute of Justice (1969-1972), where he worked closely with leaders in government and civil society to improve the services relied upon for safety and justice; and Chairman of the New York City Criminal Justice Agency (1977-1992).

In 1975, Deputy Commissioner Schaffer was appointed by then-Governor Hugh Carey as Chief Counsel to the New York State Moreland Act Commission investigating financial and patient care abuses in nursing homes.  Thereafter, he was in private legal practice as Counsel at Stanley S. Arkin, P.C. Attorney at Law.  In 1977, he was named Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of New York University and in 1993, he was elevated to Senior Vice President and General Counsel.  He has also served since 1978 as a member of the faculty of the New York University School of Law, teaching primarily in the area of criminal procedure.

Deputy Commissioner Schaffer, a Harvard National Honorary Scholar and Henry Fellow at Cambridge University in England, graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Harvard College; and Cum Laude with an LL.B. from Harvard Law School.

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