Visiting Cousin in Psych Ward Gets N.Y. Lawyer Suspended for 5 Years
A former chief counsel for the New York fire department’s bureau of legal affairs has been suspended from practice for five years.
His offense against legal ethics was visiting a cousin in a psychiatric unit in 2002, in order to complete the paperwork for the sale of the cousin’s home in Brooklyn to himself, in exchange for $175,000, reports the New York Law Journal, in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg. req.).
A special referee’s report (PDF), which was provided by New York Lawyer, said David Clinton hadn’t violated any legal ethics rules. But the 2nd Department of the Appellate Division found that the referee had misunderstood the applicable standards. Also, the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene has established procedures that must be followed to obtain such signatures from a psychiatric patient, and Clinton violated that protocol, the appellate panel said.
The cousin’s “vulnerability was patent. The respondent filed and recorded the deed despite being told that he could not obtain signatures on legal documents from patients in psychiatric wards without following accepted procedures,” the court stated in a written opinion.
The panel said it decided to suspend Clinton, rather than disbar him, because of his “unblemished disciplinary history” and character evidence that including a letter from former Fire Commissioner Howard Safir.
Hal Lieberman of Hinshaw & Culbertson represented Clinton, and declined to comment.
