Opinion
No. 2014-03393.
01-20-2016
In the Matter of Ira S. LEVINE, admitted as Ira Levine, an attorney and counselor-at-law. Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts, petitioner; Ira S. Levine, respondent.
Diana Maxfield Kearse, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Kathryn Donnelly Gur–Arie of counsel), for petitioner. Michael A. Gentile, New York, N.Y., for respondent.
Diana Maxfield Kearse, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Kathryn Donnelly Gur–Arie of counsel), for petitioner.
Michael A. Gentile, New York, N.Y., for respondent.
Opinion
PER CURIAM.
The Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts served the respondent with a verified petition, dated March 28, 2014, containing three charges of professional misconduct. After a preliminary conference held on October 29, 2014, and a hearing conducted on March 13, 2015, the Special Referee sustained all charges. The petitioner now moves to confirm the report of the Special Referee, and to impose such discipline upon the respondent as this Court deems just and proper. The respondent, by counsel, cross-moves to disaffirm in part the report of the Special Referee insofar as it sustains charges one and two, and to confirm in part the report to the extent that it sustains charge three. In the event that this Court decides to impose discipline, the respondent's counsel requests such discipline be limited to a private reprimand, an admonition, or at most, a public censure.
Charge one of the verified petition alleges that the respondent misappropriated client funds entrusted to him as a fiduciary, incident to his practice of law, in violation of rule 1.15(a) and rule 8.4(h) of the Rules of Professional Conduct (22 NYCRR 1200.0), as follows:
On November 17, 2011, the respondent deposited a down payment in the amount of $280,000 into his attorney escrow account maintained at Citibank, N.A., account number XXXXXX8476 (hereinafter the escrow account), on behalf of his clients Martin and Nelson Schmuckler, who were selling properties located at 284, 286, and 288 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Before the February 27, 2012, closing of the Schmuckler properties, the respondent withdrew $10,000 from the escrow account as a partial legal fee in the Schmuckler matter by check Nos.2069 and 2087, dated November 17, 2011, and December 7, 2011, respectively, each in the amount of $5,000.
While entrusted with the Schmuckler down payment, between November 17, 2011, and February 27, 2012, the balance in the respondent's escrow account fell below $280,000 as follows: