New York, United States

Michael D. Cohen: disciplinary decision

Decision, 26 February 2019On 26 February 2019 the Appellate Division, First Department, in a per curiam decision, granted the Attorney Grievance Committee's motion and ordered that his "name is stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law" in New York, effective nunc pro tunc to 29 November 2018 (Matter of Cohen, 2019 NY Slip Op 01381).¹

Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, First Judicial Department

What the decision found

The court applied automatic disbarment under Judiciary Law section 90(4) based on his federal conviction for making false statements to Congress under 18 USC 1001(a)(2). The court found that offence equivalent to the New York felony of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree. It said it did not need to decide whether an earlier federal conviction was a New York felony. JURIST reported that he had been sentenced to three years in prison.^1,2

Response

According to the decision, Cohen was served with the motions, appeared pro se and did not submit responses.¹

Appeal and later events

No later reinstatement order was found in the sources reviewed.¹

Status now

Disbarred in New York by order of 26 February 2019, effective 29 November 2018, per the court decision.^1,2

This site covers only lawyers whose cases were widely reported and decided in published rulings. Each record states the decision exactly as the body made it, and any appeal or later change.

Sources

New York Appellate Division, First Department, Matter of Cohen, 2019 NY Slip Op 01381 (26 February 2019)
JURIST, Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen disbarred (27 February 2019)