In re Attorneys in Violation of Judiciary Law § 468-a

36 A.D.3d 34, 822 N.Y.S.2d 871
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided October 12, 2006·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Per Curiam.

Section 468-a of the Judiciary Law requires every resident [35] and nonresident attorney admitted to practice in the State of New York to file a biennial registration statement with the administrative office of the courts. A biennial registration fee must be paid at the time the statement is filed. This registration statement, which is mailed every two years by the Office of Court Administration to every attorney so admitted, must be timely filed and the fee paid regardless of whether the attorney is actually engaged in the practice of law in New York or elsewhere. Attorneys who certify to the Chief Administrator of the Courts that they have retired from the practice of law are exempt from paying the registration fee at the time the statement is filed. Subdivision (5) of the statute provides further that "[n] oncompliance by an attorney with the provisions of this section and the rules promulgated hereunder shall constitute conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and shall be referred to the appropriate appellate division of the supreme court for disciplinary action.”

Pursuant to this provision, petitioner Departmental Disciplinary Committee seeks an order suspending from the practice of law certain attorneys (whose last name begins with the letters A through D) who are in violation of the statute, in that they have failed to file the registration statement and pay the registration fee for one or more registration periods after due notification. This is the first in a series of motions to suspend attorneys who have failed to file biennial registration statements with the Office of Court Administration. This Court has previously held that failure to register or reregister, and pay the biennial registration fee constitutes professional misconduct warranting discipline (see Matter of Pierini, 21 AD3d 42 [2005]). Between 1997 and 1999 this Court granted similar motions and suspended attorneys for such failure to register or reregister, and pay the registration fee pursuant to Judiciary Law § 468-a (see Matter of Attorneys in Violation of Judiciary Law § 468-a, 257 AD2d 127 [1999]).

The attorneys in question have been duly notified of their noncompliance and given an opportunity to cure their default. The Office of Court Administration mailed each of the defaulting attorneys a biennial registration form to their last known home address, a second notice to their last known business address, and a final notice to their home address. Attorneys who remained in default following these three notices were referred to the Disciplinary Committee, which mailed a notice to the subject attorney that failure to register and pay past registration fees within 30 days would constitute grounds for suspen[36] sion. More than 30 days after the deadline, a list of the names of approximately 906 defaulting attorneys was compiled by OCA and forwarded to the Committee. The Committee then filed its motion for service by publication of the notice of petition to suspend.

Pursuant to the order of this Court entered May 25, 2006 (M-1856), a list of the names of the defaulting attorneys along with their last known business addresses was published in The New York Law Journal for five consecutive days commencing June 8, 2006.

Accordingly, due to the continued failure to comply with the statute, petitioner’s motion to suspend such attorneys shall be granted to the extent of suspending from the practice of law in the State of New York those attorneys whose names are enumerated in the attached schedule, effective 30 days from the date of this order, and until further order of this Court.

Mazzarelli, J.P, Saxe, Nardelli, Williams and Malone, JJ., concur.

Attorneys whose names are enumerated in the schedule attached to the opinion Per Curiam suspended from the practice of law in the State of New York, effective November 13, 2006, and until the further order of this Court, as indicated. [As amended by unpublished orders entered Oct. 26, 31, Nov. 9, 13, 14, Dec. 5, 7, 2006, and Jan. 16, 2007.]

NAME LAST REGISTERED ADDRRESS OATH DATE DEPT.

Aaron, Avrum Gerber Capital Management, Inc. 900 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022 09/18/1995 1

Aaronson, David 16 W 76 St New York, NY 10023 03/16/1981 1

Aaronson, Neil Richard Ing Baring Furman Selz 55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 07/26/2000 1

Abaya, Araby 1177 6th Avenue New York, NY 10036 07/10/2000 1

Abbandando, Lawrence C. The Legal Aid Society Criminal Defense Div 1020 Grand Concourse Bronx, NY 10451 10/06/1997 1

Abdelhak, Aaron Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flora LLP 919 Third Ave New York, NY 10022 07/26/1993 1

[37] NAME LAST REGISTERED ADDRRESS OATH DATE DEPT.

Abe, Kari Keiko G/F 325 Tai Hang Road Hong Kong, China 07/17/1989 1

Abraha, Ande Ande Abraha 379 Valley Road West Orange, NJ 07052 08/16/1993 1

Abraham, Susan Jane Office of the Appellate Defender 45 W 45th St, 7th Floor New York, NY 10036 06/18/1984 1

Abramow, Jill A. 500 East 77th Street, #1535 New York, NY 10162 04/15/1985 1

Abrams, EvanR. Evan R. Abrams, Esq. PO Box 811659, #15P Boca Raton, FL 33481 08/28/1989 1

Abrams, Neill Goldman Sachs International Peterborough Court 133 Fleet Street, EC4A2BB London, England 11/01/1993 1

Abrams, Steven Ira Morrison Cohen Singer & Weinstein, LLP 750 Lexington Avenue, 8th Floor New York, NY 10022 06/22/1992 1

Abrams, William Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette 277 Park Avenue New York, NY 10172 05/06/1991 1

Abramson, Gayle Felice 1365 York Avenue New York, NY 10021 08/23/1995 2

Acevedo, Samuel Boston Higher Education Resource Center 68 Northampton St. Boston, MA 02118 11/21/1994 1

Ackerman, Beth Laurie 300 Central Park West, Apt 7D-1 New York, NY 10024 02/07/1983 1

Ackerman, James Curtis James C Ackerman Esq 2 Executive Drive Fort Lee, NJ 07024 02/03/1986 1

Ackerman, Kenneth J. Kenneth J. Ackerman, Esq. PO Box 30216 Pens, FL 32503 04/13/1970 1

Ackert, George R. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP 919 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022 03/25/1996 1

Acosta-Rua, Gaston Jose Chemical Bank 270 Park Ave New York, NY 10017 12/08/1993 2

Acuna, Frank R. Frank R Acuna Esq 4722 Sunfield Ave Long Beach, CA 90808 07/27/1987 1

Adams, Douglas Maxwell 77 East 12th St, Apt 15A New York, NY 10003 09/21/1992 1

[38] NAME LAST REGISTERED ADDRRESS OATH DATE DEPT.

Adir, Tali Tali Adir 235 W 48th St, Suite 33-C New York, NY 10036 08/12/1991 1

Adler, David Yale David Y Adler Scotia McLeod Inc 100 Wellington St West, 32nd FL Toronto Ont M5K 1M2, Canada 06/18/1990 1

Adler, Kevin Edward Ernst & Young 787 7th Avenue New York, NY 10019 01/10/1994 1

Adwar, Gary Scott Kaslow Abramoff & Adwar 1875 Century Park E, Ste 700 Los Angeles, CA 90067 02/29/1988 1

Affleck, Arthur G. 7 Old Towne Place Unit C-204 Durham, NC 27713 10/29/1990 1

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In re Attorneys in Violation of Judiciary Law § 468-a, 36 A.D.3d 34, 822 N.Y.S.2d 871 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2006).

36 A.D.3d 34 (In re Attorneys in Violation of Judiciary Law § 468-a) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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