Metro

Outgoing Chief Judge Janet DiFiore should be disbarred, ethics complaint charges

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Social Links for Carl Campanile
Published Aug. 30, 2022, 8:14 p.m. ET

A bombshell complaint urges court officials to strip the law license of outgoing New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, alleging a number of ethical transgressions, The Post has learned.

Wednesday is DiFiore’s final day in charge of the state judiciary after announcing her abrupt resignation last month.

Dennis Quirk, the longtime head of the New York State Court Officers union, is filing the 13-page complaint with Jerold Ruderman, who chairs the grievance committee in the Ninth Judicial District.

The complaint charges that DiFiore improperly intervened in a disciplinary case involving Quirk; refused to comply with court orders when the chief judge was sued by 46 older judges forced out of their jobs; and ruled on cases instead of recusing herself involving the law firm Greenberg Traurig, which personally represented  her in the litigation involving the older judges.

Janet DiFiore
Outgoing New York Chief Janet DiFiore announced her resignation last month. AP/Mike Groll

Quirk also accused DiFiore of “conspiring” with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the appointment of four additional judges to the state Court of Claims to “clear the pathway” for the chief’s daughter, Alexandra Murphy,  to run for and be elected to a seat on the state Supreme Court in Westchester County.

DiFiore, a former Westchester District Attorney, was a Cuomo appointee to the bench. She wrote the majority 4-3 Court of Appeals decision that tossed out the Democratic Party drawn legislative maps as illegal gerrymandering.

Her daughter, Murphy had no opposition in her race for judgeship.

DiFiore abruptly announced her resignation in July.

Within hours, published reports said the Commission on Judicial Conduct was investigating whether DiFiore improperly used her influence to urge court officials to punish Quirk in a disciplinary proceeding. Some observers speculated the probe triggered her unexpected resignation, which DiFiore denied.

In the new complaint, Quirk argued that DiFiore’s alleged abuses should bar her from practicing law altogether when she leaves the bench. Typically, ex-judges land well-paid gigs at established law firms.

“Based on this litany of unethical behavior, I firmly believe former Chief Judge DiFiore should be disbarred,” Quirk said.

Quirk said DiFiore’s resignation does not absolve her from responsibility for her “pattern of unethical conduct” and “cannot inoculate her  from the rules applicable to every lawyer licensed to practice in New York.”

“She should be held to the highest standards of the profession because no one is above the law,” Quirk said. “Certainly not the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals.”

DENNIS QUIRK
Dennis Quirk charged she should be barred from practicing law. Staten Island Advance/Rachel Shapiro

The Office of Court Administration suspended Quirk for 30 days last year amid a dispute over the COVID-19 vaccine edict for court employees. An OCA rep told The Post at the time that Quirk put DiFiore at “grave risk of death” by posting her Westchester and Hamptons area addresses on Facebook.

The Quirk complaint alleges DiFiore improperly put her thumb on the scale in his disciplinary case, by sending a letter to Phyllis Flug, the hearing officer in his case,  on her official letterhead urging the officer to punish Quirk.

“It cannot be disputed that former Chief Judge DiFiore was not permitted to submit such
a letter, let alone have ex parte communications with a hearing officer,” Quirk wrote in the complaint.

He said his suspension was “an attempt to stifle the voices of the 1,500 court officers who ensure the safety of judges, attorneys, and litigants every day.”

OCA spokesman Lucien Chalfen, responding on behalf of DiFiore and the judiciary, said, “At this point what I would say is that: I am not going to dignify that letter with a response.”