Opinion
Docket No. DRB 12-290 Docket No. DRB 12-331
01-25-2013
Re: In the Matters of Peter A. Cook
JULIANNE K. DECORE CHIEF COUNSEL ISABEL FRANK DEPUTY CHIEF COUNSEL ELLEN A. BRODSKY FIRST ASSISTANT COUNSEL LILLIAN LEWIN DONA S. SEROTA -TESCHNER COLIN T. TAMS KATHRYN ANNE WINTERLE ASSISTANT COUNSEL
LOUIS PASHMAN, ESQ. CHAIR
BONNIE C. FROST, ESQ. VICE-CHAIR
EDNA Y. BAUGH, ESQ.
BRUCE W. CLARK, ESQ.
JEANNE DOREMUS
HON. MAURICE J. GALLIPOLI
SPENCER V. WISSINGER, III
MORRIS YAMNER, ESQ.
ROBERT C. ZMIRICH JULIANNE K. DECORE
CHIEF COUNSEL ISABEL FRANK
DEPUTY CHIEF COUNSEL ELLEN A. BRODSKY
FIRST ASSISTANT COUNSEL LILLIAN LEWIN
DONA S. SEROTA -TESCHNER
COLIN T. TAMS
KATHRYN ANNE WINTERLE
ASSISTANT COUNSEL RICHARD J. HUGHES JUSTICE COMPLEX VIA CERTIFIED MAIL , R.R.R. & REGULAR MAIL Peter A. Cook, Esq.
c/o Gerard E. Hanlon, Esq.
Hanlon Dunn & Robertson
50 South Street
Morristown, NJ 07960 District Docket Nos. VB-2010-0021E and VB-2011-0014E
LETTER OF ADMONITION Dear Mr. Cook:
The Disciplinary Review Board has reviewed your conduct in the above matters and has concluded that it was improper. Following a review of the record, the Board determined to impose an admonition.
Specifically, in about 2009, in two simple matters for separate clients, you lacked diligence and failed to communicate with the clients. In the Fetherston matter, you did little to move a trust matter along and then accomplished little more than legal research, once that matter evolved into an estate matter. You also failed to reply to your client's requests for information from February 2009 to February 2010. In the Rudzenski matter, you completed an initial task by setting up a non-profit entity for the client. You then agreed to prepare tax returns for the entity, a ministry, for no fee, but failed to do so. You also failed to reply to requests for information about the matter, forcing her to press a friend into service to obtain updates. Your actions in these matters violated RPC 1.3 and RPC 1.4(b). The Board dismissed the RPC 1.1(a) charge in the Rudzenski matter for lack of clear and convincing evidence of any impropriety.
In imposing only an admonition, the Board took into consideration that no ethics infractions have been sustained against you since your 1994 admission to the bar.
Your conduct has adversely reflected not only upon you as an attorney but also upon all members of the bar. Accordingly, the Board has directed the issuance of this admonition to you. R. 1:20-15(f)(4).
A permanent record of this occurrence has been filed with the Clerk of the Supreme Court and the Board's office. Should you become the subject of any further discipline, it will be taken into consideration.
The Board has also directed that the costs of the disciplinary proceedings be assessed against you. An invoice of costs will be forwarded under separate cover.
Very truly yours,
/s/
Julianne K. DeCore
Chief Counsel JKD/sj
c: Chief Justice Stuart Rabner
Associate Justices
Louis Pashman, Chair
Disciplinary Review Board
Mark Neary, Clerk
Supreme Court of New Jersey
Gail G. Haney, Deputy Clerk
Supreme Court of New Jersey (w/ethics history)
Charles Centinaro, Director
Office of Attorney Ethics
Andrew M. Contreras, Chair, District VB Ethics Committee
Paula I. Getty, Secretary, District VB Ethics Committee
Steven Fetherston, Grievant
Lynn Rudzenski, Grievant