Testimony before the Chief Judge’s Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline

SUMMARY

The Professional Discipline Committee provided testimony to the Chief Judge’s Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline, which is undertaking a comprehensive review of New York’s attorney discipline system. The Committee urged the Commission to focus on three key areas in need of improvement and offered recommendations to address these issues. First, create uniform attorney discipline procedural rules across the four Departments. Second, adopt new rules permitting a respondent access to non-privileged materials in a prosecutor’s file and permitting discovery following service of formal charges. Finally, make efforts to speed up the process by which disciplinary matters are evaluated and resolved. 

OUTCOME

NYS Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline, “Enhancing Fairness and Consistency, Fostering Efficiency and Transparency: Final Report to Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, the Court of Appeals,  and the Administrative Board of the Courts”, Sept. 2015, available here.