Walter M. Arsenault
Executive Director

Walter M. Arsenault was appointed Executive Director of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor on September 10, 2008. He is the grandson of a longshoreman and the son of a U.S. Customs Inspector and Supervisor who spent his career on the piers of New Jersey. Mr. Arsenault is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University and Rutgers University School of Law. He served as an Assistant Prosecutor in Bergen County, New Jersey from 1978 to 1984 where he was Chief of the Trial and Grand Jury Sections. Mr. Arsenault joined the New York County District Attorney's Office in 1984 where he served until 2003. Mr. Arsenault was the Chief of that office's Homicide Investigation Unit for most of his career there. He specialized in the investigation and prosecution of violent drug gangs. Mr. Arsenault also served as a Senior Trial Counsel in Trial Bureau 70 and a Senior Investigative Counsel in the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. In 2003, Mr. Arsenault was appointed First Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation. He oversaw that office's daily operations as well as leading high profile political corruption and organized crime investigations. He retired from city service in March of 2008.

 

Phoebe S. Sorial
General Counsel

Phoebe S. Sorial has served as General Counsel of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor since May 10, 2010. She is the chief legal advisor for the Commission and assists the Commission in fulfilling its statutory mission.

Ms. Sorial is a graduate of Rutgers University and Rutgers-Newark School of Law, where she was the Managing Business Editor of the Computer and Technology Law Journal. In 2000, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Rudy B. Coleman, retired Judge of the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey, before joining a prominent New Jersey law firm. While in private practice, Ms. Sorial represented corporate clients, state agencies and public entities in complex litigation at local, national and international levels. She also counseled clients regarding internal matters, including securities compliance, employment practices and other corporate protocols. In 2008, Ms. Sorial joined a Florida government relations firm, where she advised of legal implications of firm strategies and focused on legislative advocacy, alliance building and crisis communications.

Ms. Sorial is admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, the Southern District of New York, as well as the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second and Third Circuits.