Legal Ethics
2nd Lawyer Says N.Y. School Districts Often List Legal Counsel as Employees
Posted Feb 26, 2008, 02:15 pm CDT
By Martha Neil
Another New York lawyer reportedly has claimed that Long Island school districts often list their legal counsel as employees, allowing them to qualify for government pensions and health benefits even though they are in private practice.
"This practice is approved by the state and is common among my colleagues, many of whom have this arrangement with several school districts," writes Carol Hoffman in an August 1998 letter to a school district obtained by Newsday.
In fact, says a spokeswoman for state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, this practice is not approved by the state, according to Newsday.
Steven Schlesinger, a law partner of Hoffman's, says her salary and benefits were supposed to be equivalent to what the school district would have paid under a retainer agreement. "It wasn't supposed to be salary and benefits plus retainer," he tells Newsday, noting that Hoffman "never intended to be more than part-time at any school district to my knowledge."
As discussed in earlier ABAJournal.com posts, another Long Island lawyer, Lawrence Reich, is also under investigation for reportedly being listed as "working" in multiple school district jobs while he was in private practice representing the districts as their legal counsel. And a third Long Island lawyer is being targeted in ongoing state and federal probes, too, according to the newspaper.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: "New York AG Asks 124 School Districts for Law Firm Payment Info"
ABAJournal.com: "Feds and State Investigate N.Y. Lawyer Who ‘Worked’ 1,286 Days in a Year"
ABAJournal.com: "New Issues for Lawyer Who ‘Worked’ 1,286 Days in One Year"
ABAJournal.com: "Lawyer Who ‘Worked’ 1,286 Days in a Year: ‘Common Practice’"
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