no woman allowed

Rising Stars 40 Under 40: Edward Friedland

Written by Laura Nahmias on May 21, 2012. Posted in Rising Stars.

---

EDWARD FRIEDLAND
Age: 38
District Court Executive, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

Edward Friedland

The man behind the curtain in Manhattan’s largest federal court is Edward Friedland. He’s the person making sure the security systems work and the clocks tick, the man who recently oversaw a
$365 million renovation of the Marshall Courthouse. Now he’s trying to secure a new security pavilion for the federal court building. Everything people take for granted when they arrive in one of the court buildings downtown is Friedland’s purview.

Even in law school he was drawn to the operations side of the criminal justice system: “I like the management side a little better. I like the nuts and bolts of how the system operates: the budgeting, the facilities, the political liaisons. All the operational stuff, to me, was much more intriguing, and also turned out to be something that I was very good at.”

A Long Island native, Friedland attended Hofstra and Touro Law before becoming an administrator at the Suffolk County Department of Civil Service. He went on to become executive deputy commissioner at the New York State Division of Human Rights during former Gov. George Pataki’s administration, and part of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s administration, too.

He left the system briefly to become court executive officer and assistant court administrator for Las Vegas’ Clark County Courts. Vegas’ court system was a happening place, but Friedland missed New York. “There’s no good pizza,” he says. “Once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker.”

If you were not working in politics, what would you be doing?
“My undergraduate major in college was premed. Veterinary medicine, actually. I certainly love animals. But I think I’m past the stage of going back and doing chemistry, biology, physics and calculus.”

Five years from now, what will it say on your business card?
“Whatever the person printing it decides to put on it. I always manage for today, and the opportunities seem to find their way over.”

If you could have a superpower, what would it be, and why?
“To see the future. If you’re working in government, it’s always good to know what the future holds.”