With Platkin Poised for Flight, Garg in the Catbird’s seat
Matt Platkin, Governor Phil Murphy’s chief counsel, is poised to leave the administration, sources say.
“We need him,” Murphy said, when asked about his counsel’s value to the team, back when Platkin tested positive for COVID-19, maybe the legal brain’s most high visibility moment when he wasn’t actually at the War Memorial providing his monotone breakdowns on thorny policy questions.
He pulled through his coronavirus scare with no symptoms, but a source described the lawyer’s impending departure from the administration as “a huge loss for Phil.”
“He leans on the kid, let’s face it,” the source said. “He’s a go-to guy, no question. He thinks the kid’s a dynamo.”
Platkin routinely life lines Murphy on legal matters.
Lacking him within arm’s reach could somewhat flummox the governor.
The source speculated that Deputy Counsel Parimal Garg is liely to take the position.
“Parimal does 95% of the work anyway,” the source ho-hummed.
Platkin was policy director for Murphy for Governor prior to becoming chief counsel, and prior to joining New Way for New Jersey, he was an attorney at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York, where his practice focused on criminal and regulatory investigations.
Plakin worked on Senator Cory Booker’s 2013 Senate campaign as well as having advised various state and federal campaigns across the country. He began his career working on economic policy at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., where he advised members of Congress on policies to promote economic recovery and job growth in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
