Alvin Bragg

Alvin Leonard Bragg Jr. (born October 21, 1973) is an American politician and lawyer who serves as the New York County District Attorney, covering Manhattan. In 2021, he became the first African American elected to that office. Bragg had previously served as Chief Deputy Attorney General of New York and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. Early life and education Bragg was born in New York City on October 21, 1973. He hailed from Harlem, and grew up on Striver's Row. In an interview with The American Prospect, Bragg said that he had been "deeply affected by the criminal justice system – most directly through three gunpoint stops by the NYPD". He graduated from the Trinity School before attending Harvard College. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in 1995 as a major in government. In 1999, he earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review. Legal career Bragg clerked for federal district judge Robert P. Patterson Jr. before he joined the law firm Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello as an associate, where his work focused on white collar fraud and civil rights issues. In 2003, he joined the office of the Attorney General of New York under Eliot Spitzer before becoming the chief of litigation and investigations for the New York City Council. In 2009, Bragg left the city council to serve as assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York.