Monday, August 23, 2010

NJ Disbarred Lawyers Reported for 2009

The number of formal complaints filed with the state Office of Attorney Ethics increased by 23 percent in 2009, with 233 complains compared to 189 in 2008, according to the office's annual report made public.

As a result, by the time the year was over, 29 of New Jersey's 86,807 attorneys were disbarred for unethical practices, 15 of them by consent.

Another 29 lawyers were suspended, 23 were censured, 26 received reprimands, 40 received admonitions, 25 had their licenses suspended and 2 received license suspensions.

The report shows an 11 percent decrease in the number of attorneys disciplined by the state Supreme Court. The figure was 148 in 2009 compared to 167 in 2008.

The 233 formal complaints stemmed from 1,476 grievances filed with the OAE in 2009, a nearly 6 percent increase over the 1,394 grievances filed in 2008.
The fee arbitration program resolved 1,130 fee matters involving $14.5 million in legal fees.

Here are the 14 lawyers who were disbarred by the Supreme Court in 2009:
Peter J. De Jong, Morris County
Marc F. Desiderio, Bergen
Edward D. Fagan, Florida
Jonathan Friedman, Monmouth
Horatius A. Greene II, Essex
Stanley J. Hausman, Essex
Thomas J. Izso, Middlesex
Russell T. Kivler, Mercer
Richard H. Kress, Union
Gary Lesser, Morris
Laura P. Scott, Bergen
Irwin B. Seligsohn, Essex
Loel H. Seitel, Bergen
Stephen W. Thompson, Cape May

Here are the 15 attorneys who agreed to be disbarred:
Kevin M. Bosworth, Burlington
William N. Chango, Union
Matthew G. Connolly, Hudson
John L. D'intino Jr., Pennsylvania
Jeffrey B. Feinman, Camden
Edward M. Fink, Somerset
Paul J. Hirsh, Morris.
Philip B. Hover, Bergen
Andrew M. Kimmel, Morris
Kurt G. Ligos, Morris
John G. Lynch Jr. Sussex
Sam S. Matthews, Bergen
John J. Montefusco, Morris
Steven T. Rondos, Bergen
Ward S. Taggart, Ward, Burlington
Stanley J. Hausman, Essex

Full Article and Source:
Disbarred Lawyers in NJ Reported for 2009

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We complained to NJ about Donald Vanarelli, Anthony P. Kearns III, Daniel Jurkovic and Russell Woods and it got sweep under the carpet due to political connections.

Chris Christi is thinking of naming Kearns as the Hunterdon County Prosecutor ----- it pays to be a 4th generation politically connected attorney.

That guy had major conflicts of interest on my husband's case but when your family and law firm pulls strings nothing happens.

Antishyster said...

A good beginning!

Steve said...

I'm glad to see lawyers getting disbarred and reprimanded. However, while this list looks good at a glance, it truly is a drop in the bucket. So many more should be disbarred.