Fla. Bar Investigates N.Y. Judge for Possible Practice Rule Violation
A complaint by a Miami lawyer to the Florida bar has prompted an investigation of a New York judge for possible violation of a registration rule in the Sunshine State.
Judge O. Peter Sherwood, a former New York solicitor general who recently was appointed to the New York Court of Claims bench, was the subject of complaints by attorney J.B. Harris of Miami, both to Florida and to New York bar authorities, reports the National Law Journal. Harris contends that Sherwood didn’t register, as an out-of-state practitioner, as required. Plus, he says, Sherwood was rude to his client and refused to reschedule a deposition at a time when she was recovering from surgery and heavily medicated.
Harris also reportedly made similar bar complaints against L. Peter Parcher, Sherwood’s co-counsel, who practices in the New York office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
Sherwood tells the legal publication that he was granted court permission to appear pro hac vice, and was unaware of a new Florida law that calls for out-of-state lawyers to notify the state bar and pay a fee. “If I have to apply to the Florida Bar, then I’ll do that,” he says.
