ALBANY, N.Y., Oct. 6 (Reuters) - An attorney whose license
was suspended for routinely charging excessive fees in
surrogate cases has won the right to practice law again.
The Appellate Division, Third Department ruled on Thursday
that Louis Rosenthal, who served as counsel to the Brooklyn
public administrator from 1997 to 2002, where he handled
the estates of people who had died without written wills or
close relatives, "possesses the character and general fitness
to resume the practice of law."
In 2008, the same court slapped Rosenthal with a two-year
suspension after investigators found he had billed more than $2
million in excessive fees over a five-year period. State law
caps attorneys' fees in surrogate cases at 6 percent, but
Rosenthal regularly charged 8 percent.
In addition to billing for excessive fees, Rosenthal
admitted to failing to file mandatory affidavits that outlined
the work he had done. Instead, he wrote fee requests on Post-It
notes and affixed them to court documents.
The case spurred the state's top court to kick former
Surrogate Court Judge Michael Feinberg off the bench in 2002.
Feinberg, who granted Rosenthal a total of $8.6 million in fees
over five years without questioning his methods, was disbarred
in 2005.
Investigators and the media claimed Feinberg and Rosenthal,
who both attended Brooklyn Law School in the 1960s, were good
friends, and said the attorney curried favor with the judge to
win the counsel job.
"The taint of favoritism is strong," the Court of Appeals
wrote in a 2008 ruling.
Rosenthal told Reuters those claims were exaggerated.
"We were friends, (Feinberg) came to my son's bar mitzvah,
but so did 300 other people," he said.
'WE WERE WRONG'
Last year, Rosenthal petitioned the court to have his law
license reinstated.
The state Committee on Professional Standards, New York's
top watchdog for attorney misconduct, filed a petition
challenging Rosenthal's reinstatement. Calls to CPS to find out
the reasons for their opposition were not returned.
In an interview Rosenthal said that Feinberg and the clerk
of the court, Stephen Chepiga, advised him that he did not have
to file affidavits breaking down his fees.
Chepiga was censured by the Third Department in 2008.
"We were wrong, and we were punished, and I'm very happy
it's over," Rosenthal said in an interview.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General's office is seeking to
recoup the excessive fees charged by Rosenthal.
But Rosenthal quipped, "How am I supposed to pay them back
if I'm not working?"
Rosenthal's reinstatement is effective immediately.
Justices Thomas Mercure, Edward Spain, Robert Rose, Leslie
Stein and John Egan Jr. made up the Third Department panel.
The case is Matter of Louis R. Rosenthal, New York State
Supreme Court, Third Appellate Division, No. D-45-11.
For Rosenthal: Alexander Dudelson
For Committee on Professional Standards: Michael
Gaynor
(Reporting By Dan Wiessner)
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