Former clinical law prof is disbarred after apparently ignoring ethics probe
A former clinical law professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law has been disbarred after failing to cooperate in an investigation into his alleged abandonment of cases at the school’s employment law clinic.
New York’s appellate division, first department, disbarred Michael L. Silverman in a Jan. 5 opinion, the New York Law Journal (sub. req.) reports. He was a 2000 Harvard law graduate who formerly clerked for a justice on the Alaska Supreme Court, according to an online profile cited by the story.
Silverman was an adjunct clinical professor supervising students representing clients at administrative hearings for unemployment benefits until the school decided to close its labor and employment clinic in 2013, according to a March 2015 decision that suspended Silverman.
The director of clinical education at the law school had told ethics officials that Silverman promised to transfer or complete cases before the clinic closed, but never provided information about the cases. The led the director to conclude several cases had been “simply abandoned” by Silverman.
The March 2015 decision has details of efforts to contact Silverman about the investigation. Four letters were sent to his home, including a certified letter and a letter with a subpoena. An investigator rang his doorbell, with no answer. The investigator then obtained Silverman’s phone number through a Google search, and the person who answered the phone said he was Silverman. When informed that the investigator was outside, Silverman said he would call him back and hung up. The investigator didn’t get the return call.
The investigator returned to the apartment a second time, and the building superintendent said Silverman was a tenant. There was no answer when the investigator knocked on Silverman’s door.
