Disciplinary Hearing Against Bronx Surrogate Concludes

Disciplinary Hearing Against Bronx Surrogate Concludes
The New York Law Journal by Brendan Pierson  -  January 18, 2012

The disciplinary hearing against Bronx Surrogate Lee L. Holzman concluded on Jan. 17, more than one year after the Commission on Judicial Conduct first accused the surrogate of allowing Michael Lippman, former chief counsel to the Bronx public administrator, to collect more than $300,000 in excessive legal fees from estates. Former Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Felice K. Shea presided over the hearing, which concluded with commission attorney Brenda Correa cross-examining Surrogate Holzman for nearly two full days. Throughout the cross-examination, the surrogate repeatedly said that he had been inclined to trust affidavits of legal services submitted by Mr. Lippman, who had worked for the public administrator's office for over 30 years. He testified that, even after Mr. Lippman confessed in 2006 that he had taken excess fees from some estates, he did not believe the attorney had broken any laws and trusted that he would pay them back. He said his first inkling that Mr. Lippman may have been guilty of serious misconduct came in 2009, when state and federal authorities began investigating him. Although Surrogate Holzman removed Mr. Lippman from his position as chief counsel in 2006, he allowed him to continue working for the public administrator and to collect fees in order to refund the estates to which he owed money. The commission is charging the surrogate should have turned Mr. Lippman in to criminal authorities right away. The commission also alleges that the surrogate routinely approved legal fees for Mr. Lippman based on boilerplate language, and that he should have known about the excessive fees earlier. Both sides will now submit written closing briefs. Surrogate Holzman is represented by David Godosky of Godosky & Gentile. Ms. Shea will issue a report to the commission. The agency's administrator and Surrogate Holzman will then submit briefs to the commission, which will hear oral argument before rendering a final determination.