Consumers of legal services in New York and Ohio, rejoice: Ohio quickly reinstated a lawyer who was suspended for lying to the court and stealing/hiding evidence, while New York reinstated a lawyer who was disbarred after being convicted of securities fraud

On September 22, 2016, Ohio reinstated the law license of attorney Robert Paul Demarco who, according to his order of discipline of November 5, 2015, lied to the court and hid evidence given to him by opposing counsel.

So, in Ohio, an attorney can lie and steal/hide evidence, and be reinstated after less than a year, while criticism of corruption in Ohio courts leads to attorney disbarment.

Not to be outdone, on September 28, 2016 New York reinstated disbarred attorney Christopher K. Collotta who was permanently disbarred in 2008 after a criminal conviction for securities fraud in 2004.

The order of reinstatement does not explain any reasons other than that it was based "[u]pon the papers filed in support of the motion and the papers filed in relation thereto, and upon the report of the Committee on Character and Fitness and the exhibits annexed thereto".

So, apparently, an attorney who has been CRIMINALLY CONVICTED for felony FRAUD can practice law in New York - and is instantly accepted to work for a "workplace counseling" law firm Zabell & Associates, P.C.

Notably, attorney Collotta was reinstated even though he has been "delinquent" - which means he did not pay his registration fee.

Since attorney Collotta's next registration is in November of 2016, and attorneys in New York must re-register every two years, by the time of attorney Collotta's interesting no-reasons-given reinstatement he was delinquent for nearly 2 years - and even that did not prevent his reinstatement.

Consumers of legal services of attorneys and Christopher K. Collotta in New York - rejoice.

Christopher K. Collotta - who was given leniency in criminal proceedings in 2007 because he is reportedly a cancer survivor, has heart problems, was "at the bottom of the food chain" in a 13-defendant conspiracy, and "only modestly profited" from his crime - to the order of $9,000 - is back in service.

So, if he steals from you while representing you, it will be only modest - within single-digit thousands of dollars.

As I previously said on this blog, commission of a felony is regarded by New York courts, as a lesser offense than criticism of a judge.

And, no new rules of attorney discipline that came into effect today, and which are supposed to be "fairer" than the previous mess, can fix the main problem of attorney discipline in New York - corruption.