I am honored to have been elected to succeed Bob Morgenthau as Manhattan District Attorney, and plan to build on the traditions of fairness, integrity and non-partisanship that have defined the office for decades. In the early 1980’s, when I started out as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, crime in New York was rampant. Two decades later, New York is now the safest big city in America. Nothing is more important to me than making sure we don’t take one step backward in the fight against crime and that we find new ways to make Manhattan even safer.

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. became District Attorney of New York County on January 1, 2010. Mr. Vance is a recognized leader in criminal justice reform and proposed a compelling vision for moving the Manhattan District Attorney's Office forward, with a focus on crime prevention.

Mr. Vance began his legal career in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office during the high-crime era of the 1980s. As an Assistant District Attorney, Mr. Vance handled cases involving murder, organized crime, public corruption, and white-collar crime. After leaving the District Attorney’s Office, Mr. Vance and his wife Peggy McDonnell moved to Seattle where Mr. Vance co-founded McNaul Ebel Nawrot Helgren & Vance, PLLC, which became one of the pre-eminent litigation firms in the Northwest. During his time in Seattle, Mr. Vance taught trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law.