The Nissenbaum Law Group has represented many attorneys who are licensed in more than one jurisdiction in the tri-state area. Accordingly, it is familiar with the unique legal and procedural issues that confront an attorney facing an ethics complaint in New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania who is licensed in two or more of those states. Such clients need to be keenly aware of the possibility that a reciprocal ethics complaint may be filed in one or more of the other states.

The advantage of being represented by counsel with an active ethics defense practice in all three states cannot be overemphasized. Even if the respondent to an ethics complaint is ultimately not found to have violated the Rules of Professional Conduct, there are triggers that differ state-by-state for when the attorney must advise the other jurisdiction(s) that an ethics complaint or a grievance has been interposed outside that state’s jurisdiction.

One of the more compelling aspects of this is that a reciprocal state to which such information is reported can actually decide to impose greater discipline than the one in which the complaint was originally filed. For example, New Jersey has traditionally had a higher standard for imposing discipline that involves negligent misappropriation of trust account funds than New York and Pennsylvania (though the case law is evolving on that issue). Accordingly, New Jersey has been known to impose greater discipline with respect to negligent misappropriation of trust account funds that involve a bank account not located in that state. In re Manning, 134 N.J. 523, 523-524 (1993).

The Nissenbaum Law Group welcomes inquiries from attorneys facing ethics complaints and/or trust account audits who are licensed in more than one jurisdiction in the tri-state area.