- “A law clerk whose relationship with a Uniondale attorney prompted conflict of interest allegations during a contentious inheritance dispute between two siblings has left his position with Queens Surrogate’s Court Judge Peter Kelly to work at an influential Nassau law firm.”
- “The Uniondale firm of Ruskin Moscou Faltischek P.C. announced earlier this month that Zachary Zayas, of Massapequa, was now an associate in their trusts and estates department.”
- “The move came less than a month after Newsday reported that Kelly had failed to disclose for several months that Zayas, his principal law clerk and the son of Joseph Zayas, the state court system’s chief administrative judge, was living with attorney Cheryl Katz as she was arguing cases in his courtroom.”
- “Those cases included an inheritance dispute between Shannon Hynes, a Franklin Square-based matrimonial attorney and her brother Sean Hynes, a Bellerose-based NYPD detective.”
- “In early 2023, a Kelly ruling made Sean Hynes the sole executor of his father’s roughly $2.1 million estate. The ruling also gave Sean Hynes the authority to use money from the estate to pay his attorneys, including Katz. Court records show Sean Hynes paid nearly $423,000 to three law firms where Katz worked between 2020 and 2024.”
- “In its Jan. 6 announcement, Ruskin Moscou Faltischek said Zayas’ practice at the Uniondale firm would focuses on estate, trust and fiduciary litigation, including Surrogate’s Court matters.”
- “In an interview Tuesday, Shannon Hynes described Zayas’ exit from Kelly’s courtroom as ‘a step in the right direction toward promoting confidence in the justice system,’ but added that she was ‘unsure if my case affected his employment.'”
- “The investigator discovered Zayas and Katz were in a romantic relationship and sharing a home together in Massapequa. At the time, neither Zayas, Katz nor Kelly had disclosed the relationship to Shannon Hynes or her attorneys.”
- “But after Shannon Hynes’ attorneys brought the relationship to the court, Kelly disclosed that he’d been aware the two were living together since late 2023, court transcripts show. “
- “In a sworn affidavit, Katz said the relationship was disclosed to Kelly shortly after it began in June 2023.”
- “Shannon Hynes said Zayas was in court for most conferences and appearances in the case.”
- “In May 2024, with most of the major issues already resolved, Kelly recused himself from the case, framing the decision as ‘discretionary’ and adding that Zayas had no decision-making authority or influence over the outcome of the case.”
- “In 2024, Shannon Hynes said she filed a complaint against Kelly with the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing by the judiciary.”
- “Commission officials have declined to comment while Kelly told Newsday that he ‘acted properly and in compliance with all governing rules and statutes.'”
David Kluft asks: “Should the Judge recuse herself when she no longer trusts the lawyers?” —
- “In an ugly spat between a hospital and a former hospital executive, the hospital’s lawyers accused the executive’s lawyers of trying to extort the hospital, and the executive’s lawyer’s clapped back by filing defamation claims, making themselves parties.”
- “In September, the hospital’s lawyers informed the executive’s lawyers that their filings contained false citations (probably fabricated by #AI). Voluminous motion practice followed in which the executive’s lawyers ‘never addressed’ the false citations and doubled down with more.”
- “After months of this, in early January the Magistrate judge issued a show cause order, noting that even though the false citations were discovered months earlier, the executive’s lawyers ‘were still obligated to acknowledge their transgressions to the court,’ and their ‘lack of accountability def[ies] explanation.'”
- “The judge further announced that because this episode had resulted in her ‘completely losing trust’ in the executive’s lawyers, and because the court was going to report those lawyers to disciplinary authorities regardless of the outcome of the show cause hearing, she was going to recuse herself as soon as the show cause proceedings were over.”
- Decision: here.
“Judicial Ethics Opinion 25-124(A)” —
- “Facts/Issue: The inquiring judge has been subpoenaed for a deposition in civil litigation, concerning a matter the judge previously handled as an assistant district attorney. The plaintiff is suing the police department that arrested him/her, claiming that the police engaged in improper actions that led to his/her conviction. There are no claims against the District Attorney’s office, and the judge is involved only as a witness or potential witness, not a party. As the testimony involves his/her former official duties as an assistant district attorney, the judge is represented by an assistant county attorney in the civil litigation. The judge asks about his/her obligations when attorneys from the County Attorney’s office and the District Attorney’s office appear.”
- “Discussion: In our view, the situation is fully addressed by Opinion 22-168, notwithstanding that the present inquirer is being represented as a witness rather than a party.”
- “Conclusion: Where a judge is represented by an assistant county attorney as a witness concerning a matter the judge handled during his/her former employment as an assistant district attorney:
- (1) During the representation, the judge is disqualified, subject to remittal, from matters involving the specific county attorney who represents the judge.”
- (2) After the representation concludes, the judge may preside in matters involving that attorney, provided the judge can be fair and impartial. Disclosure of the former attorney-client relationship is discretionary.”
- (3) Both during and after the representation, the judge has no obligation to disclose or recuse with respect to other county attorneys not involved in representing the judge.”
- (4) The judge’s representation by an assistant county attorney creates no obligation to disclose or disqualify in matters involving the District Attorney’s office.”
“Kirkland and Jackson Walker Sued in Judge Romance Lawsuit” —
- “Two of the United States’ most established law firms, Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Jackson Walker LLP, have been named in a high-stakes federal lawsuit alleging they concealed a secret romantic relationship that influenced the outcome of a major corporate bankruptcy. The proposed class action complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, raises serious claims tied to judicial ethics, bankruptcy procedure, and investor losses tied to energy giant Chesapeake Energy’s Chapter 11 restructuring.”
- “EJS Investment Holdings, a private investment firm and creditor in the Chesapeake Energy bankruptcy, alleges that Kirkland and Jackson Walker, along with additional parties, failed to disclose a long-running romantic relationship between a Jackson Walker attorney and the judge overseeing the case. The lawsuit argues that this concealment undermined the fairness and integrity of the bankruptcy process, unfairly favoring some creditors over others and resulting in significant financial harm to junior investors like EJS.”
- “According to the complaint, the undisclosed relationship between former U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David R. Jones and then-Jackson Walker partner Elizabeth Freeman played a role in shaping legal strategies and court outcomes that benefited large institutional creditors, while leaving junior creditors with diminished recoveries. EJS claims these actions caused approximately $64 million in damages to its stake of roughly $150 million in Chesapeake Energy’s bankruptcy.”
- “The suit contends that all defendants were aware, or should have been aware, of the relationship between Freeman and Jones during their work on the bankruptcy, yet failed to disclose it to the court and interested parties. This alleged nondisclosure, EJS asserts, deprived junior creditors of the opportunity to object or seek recusal based on a conflict of interest.”