Lawyer Disbarred for Helping Ex-Con Colleague Practice Law

A New York lawyer has been disbarred for helping a former colleague practice law after he served time for putting out a contract to blind his girlfriend.

A New York appeals court disbarred criminal defense attorney Frank Hancock in a decision last week, the New York Law Journal reports. The court said Hancock helped disbarred lawyer Burton Pugach practice law in two cases, a bankruptcy and a child-custody case.

Pugach’s girlfriend was blinded by lye in an attack by three men hired by Pugach, but she married him after he served 14 years in prison. Pugach was never charged with the unauthorized practice of law and maintained he was working as a paralegal.

In the child custody case, a woman hired Pugach for an appeal and he in turn hired Hancock to argue the case on his client’s behalf, according to the decision. Pugach wrote the brief, which was signed by another lawyer, the court said.

In the bankruptcy case, the court said Hancock signed papers that Pugach has prepared without supervising his work.

Hancock had argued he wasn’t aware of Pugach’s involvement in the custody case or his misconduct in the bankruptcy case, the story says.

One ethics lawyer who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the New York Law Journal that the law is unsettled about what constitutes the practice of law by suspended and disbarred attorneys. The lawyer said the consensus seems to be that disbarred lawyers may not work as paralegals.