Diana Florence started her career 30 years ago in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, after receiving both her BA (with honors and Phi Beta Kappa) and her law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fluent in Spanish, Florence spent 25 years as a prosecutor. She focused on street crime, domestic violence, complex frauds, and corruption cases, ultimately creating and leading the nation’s first Construction Fraud Task Force. She won groundbreaking convictions against companies and individuals for corruption, domestic violence, defrauding 9/11 charities, wage theft, and deadly work conditions. Working side-by-side with community-based groups, unions, worker centers, and government agencies, Florence created an innovative prosecution model rooted in broad-based community participation. She taught trial advocacy for over two decades to lawyers in the DA’s Office and lectured investigators and lawyers from around the world on topics ranging from inter-agency cooperation to prosecuting fraud, racketeering, and workplace homicide.

As an ADA, Diana held powerful interests accountable by prosecuting landmark cases on behalf of workers and taxpayers. She secured justice for the family of Carlos Moncayo, a 22 year-old construction worker who was buried alive at work. Using the existing criminal law, Diana obtained convictions against the corporations and site supervisors—who had been repeatedly warned of hazardous conditions—for manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide related to Moncayo’s death. Diana also secured a record-breaking wage theft conviction working alongside IronWorkers Local 361 to secure $6 million in stolen wages and back-pay from AGL Industries Not only did Diana prosecute these cases, she authored two bills—Carlos’ Law and Wage Theft—that became New York State Laws.

The conclusion of Florence’s campaign coincided with the broad legalization of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) compensation for college athletes. Recognizing the parallels between immigrant construction workers and these young athletes—namely, that both groups were the often-overlooked engines of multi-billion-dollar industries—she transitioned her practice to collegiate athletics as an attorney and consultant. She is one of a handful of lawyers nationwide who has successfully sued the NCAA. She sued on behalf of a Division One basketball player at Manhattan College and won a preliminary injunction that granted him immediate eligibility. Florence also advocates for college athletes as a member of the board of Thriving Not Surviving, a nonprofit that supports college athletes who have been sexually assaulted.

Born in Manhattan, Diana is a long-time resident of Kips Bay where she lives with her husband and two children.

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