Challenging Circumstances

A number of mitigating circumstances led the New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department to impose a one-year suspension notwithstanding findings of misappropriation

In determining an appropriate measure of discipline, in addition to the challenging life circumstances and remedial measures described by the respondent, we have considered in mitigation the character evidence submitted.

However, in aggravation, we have considered, inter alia, that the respondent overdisbursed more than $18,000, which cleared against other client funds, and she did not discover her error for almost a year; the respondent’s mistaken deposit of more than $45,000 in client funds into her operating account in December 2016, which she did not discover until April 2017; the respondent’s failure to provide a client with funds from an April 2016 closing until September 2017; and the respondent’s failure to provide her former law firm with funds owed to it in 2013, until 2018. We are likewise troubled by the respondent’s failure as a fiduciary to regularly reconcile her escrow account, especially given her training as a CPA. Taken together, these circumstances illustrate a concerning disregard for the respondent’s fiduciary duties, which indicates a failure to prioritize the financial and legal well-being of her clients.

Under the totality of the circumstances, we find that the respondent’s conduct warrants her suspension from the practice of law for a period of one year.

An avalance of difficult challenges faced by Respondent

The respondent testified that her misconduct occurred during a time of personal hardship, beginning with the flooding of her house due to Superstorm Sandy, her necessary relocation to a crowded family living arrangement, and her ensuing housing complications, followed by losing her employment at her family’s law firm and accounting firm, and finding herself unexpectedly needing to establish her solo practice. The respondent was also the primary caretaker for her father during his months-long cancer battle, which ended with his passing away in March 2017. Beginning in 2013, she also took care of her brother-in-law during his decline from earlyonset Alzheimer’s until his death in 2021. The respondent further testified that between 2017 and 2020, she lost three additional close family members to breast cancer, a drug overdose, and an illness related to the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Due to these events, the respondent testified that she experienced “spiraling anxiety” and depression,which affected her legal practice, and for which she sought treatment.

The respondent admitted that her failure to reconcile her escrow account led to several of her acts of misconduct, and explained that, notwithstanding her training as a Certified Public Accountant (hereinafter CPA), she did not keep up with her monthly bookkeeping, and did not discover or rectify several of her errors until the Grievance Committee’s investigation.

(Mike Frisch)