Opinion
February 13, 2001.
MOTION by the Grievance Committee for the Ninth Judicial District to strike the respondent's name from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law, pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90(4)(b), upon his conviction of a felony. The respondent was admitted to the practice of law at a term of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial Department on March 13, 1968, under the name Nicholas W. Puner.
Gary L. Casella, White Plains, N.Y. (Matthew Renert of counsel), for petitioner.
Before: LAWRENCE J. BRACKEN, ACTING P.J., CORNELIUS J. O'BRIEN, DAVID S. RITTER, FRED T. SANTUCCI, MYRIAM J. ALTMAN, JJ.
OPINION ORDER
On or about June 2, 2000, the respondent pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court, Westchester County, to two counts of sodomy in the third degree, a class E felony, in violation of Penal Law § 130.40. He was sentenced on September 7, 2000, to sixty days incarceration and five years probation.
Pursuant to Judicial Law § 90(4), the respondent ceased to be an attorney and counselor-at-law upon his conviction of a felony. Accordingly, the Grievance Committee's motion is granted. The respondent is disbarred and his name is stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law, effective immediately.
ORDERED that pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90, effective immediately, the respondent, Nicholas W. Puner, is disbarred and his name is stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law; and it is further,
ORDERED that the respondent shall comply with this court's rules governing the conduct of disbarred, suspended, and resigned attorneys (see, 22 NYCRR 691.10); and it is further,
ORDERED that pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90, effective immediately, Nicholas W. Puner, is commanded to desist and refrain from (1) practicing law in any form, either as principal or as agent, clerk, or employee of another, (2) appearing as an attorney or counselor-at-law before any court, Judge, Justice, board, commission, or other public authority, (3) giving to another an opinion as to the law or its application or any advice in relation thereto, and (4) holding himself out in any way as an attorney and counselor-at-law.