Disciplinary Case to Proceed Against Surrogate Judge

Disciplinary Case to Proceed Against Bronx Surrogate
The New York Law Journal by Brendan Pierson  -  October 4, 2011

Bronx Surrogate Lee L. Holzman has lost a bid to stay a disciplinary proceeding brought against him by the Commission on Judicial Conduct for allegedly allowing Michael Lippman, a former counsel to the Bronx public administrator, to collect $300,000 in excessive fees. The case against the surrogate is now set to resume on Oct. 11.  The commission has charged Surrogate Holzman with failing to prevent Mr. Lippman from collecting insufficiently documented fees in 2005 and 2006 beyond those authorized by an oversight commission, which the surrogate oversaw (NYLJ, Sep. 13). Surrogate Holzman became the chairman of the Administrative Board of the Offices of the Public Administrators in 2002, the year the body formulated guidelines for the payment of counsel to public administrators. The guidelines, which are not mandatory, set compensation at 6 percent of the first $750,000 at issue in an estate case, with the percentage declining in increments to 1.5 percent for amounts exceeding $5 million. Mr. Lippman was indicted last year for allegedly collecting excess fees in five cases, and is now facing criminal charges in the Bronx. Surrogate Holzman eventually fired Mr. Lippman in 2006.  Surrogate Holzman had asked Acting Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe (See Profile) for a stay of his disciplinary proceeding while Mr. Lippman's criminal case was pending on the grounds that Mr. Lippman would exercise his Fifth Amendment right not to testify about the matter before the conduct commission. But Justice Jaffe ruled that, because Mr. Lippman's trial would not begin until Nov. 1 at the earliest, it was not practical to stay Surrogate Holzman's proceeding.