Taxes: No accountability on lawyers for kids

• Law guardians represent youngsters charged with juvenile delinquency who cannot afford to hire attorneys
• They also represent children who are victims of abuse or neglect%2C and those in custody disputes
• Lower Hudson Valley taxpayers have spent nearly %2412 million since 2010 to pay law guardians
• Critics contend the system is too random and that there is not enough public accountability

Lower Hudson Valley taxpayers have spent nearly $12 million since 2010 to pay private lawyers who are picked to represent juveniles in court proceedings — often randomly and with limited public accountability.

The lawyers are appointed as law guardians from court-approved Attorneys for Children lists, allowing them to be chosen for individual cases by presiding judges who wield immense power in family court. Rarely is a lawyer removed once on the list.

And while many taxpayers don't even know the system exists, some lawyers have used it to add as much as $100,000 or more to their annual earnings, according to an analysis of state Office of Court Administration records obtained by The Journal News under the state's Freedom of Information Law.

"It's really a place where there can be concerns over nepotism, favorite treatment to special friends who are lawyers," said Bennett Gershman, a professor at Pace University Law School in White Plains. "There's a huge amount of discretion. A lot of it is dependent on the honesty and reliability of the parties involved. And when you have situations like that, there is the opportunity for misuse, for abuse."

As law guardians, the lawyers are required by law to protect the legal rights of juveniles in court. Judges routinely require the adult parties in custodial disputes to pay law guardians out of pocket. But in many cases, judges determine that the litigants can't afford the fees. In some counties, including Rockland, most of those assignments go to the Legal Aid Society. In most, including Westchester, they go to law guardians who are reimbursed by taxpayers.

The lawyers can be thrown into some of the court system's toughest assignments. They represent youngsters in a range of court proceedings, from those charged with juvenile delinquency, to those caught in custody disputes in matrimonial cases, to those who are alleged victims of abuse or neglect.

Fees are capped at $75 per hour, but the lawyers are allowed to bill for time spent in court waiting for a case to be called, or for doing little more than stand before a judge when it is. The law does not cap their year-to-year earnings.

'Relatively random'

Ninth Judicial District Chief Administrative Judge Alan Scheinkman, the district's highest ranking judge, conceded that the process to appoint attorneys to individual cases can be "relatively random." Local court clerks are responsible for "going down the list" of nearly 200 panel members for appointments, but judges can also select a particular attorney or one who just happens to be present in the courtroom.

Still, Scheinkman said the public law guardian system is "significantly undervalued" with the $75 per hour cap, when privately paid attorneys charge between $400 and $500 per hour for the same matrimonial and family court work.

Asked about the tax costs reported by The Journal News, he said he "didn't find that particularly outlandish."

"I understand that many people make less than $100,000 a year," he said. "On the other hand, many experienced, trained attorneys do far, far better than that. If what you're saying is that these folks didn't do the job and they billed time for things they didn't do, then that's obviously fraud that needs to be investigated. If they put in this time and didn't do the work, that's also a problem.

"But if they put in this time and they did the work, then I'm not sure what the issue is," Scheinkman said. "I'm not sure how you could get a better deal for the taxpayer. ... If you believe that it's important for children to be represented, wouldn't you want them to have really good folks and pay them a more competitive wage?"

Scheinkman acknowledged that his wife, attorney Faith Miller, is on the Westchester Attorneys for Children panel. State regulations prohibit spouses and close relatives of sitting judges in the same district to receive privately funded law guardian appointments, but do not bar them from the publicly funded appointments.

Miller has collected $48,148 in publicly funded law guardian vouchers since the start of 2010. Scheinkman said she does not accept appointments to privately funded guardianships, which would be a violation of court rules.

State certified

Attorneys for Children lists are approved by an advisory committee in each judicial district, with each county compiling a panel of lawyers that can be called on. Once approved, lawyers are certified to represent juveniles in family court — and sometimes in Supreme Court or Surrogate's Court — and are allowed up to 150 clients at any given time.

To get on the panels, attorneys are required to fill out a lengthy application, are interviewed, and have to undergo training that consists of viewing 30 hours of videotaped seminars online. Once on the panel they are required to attend yearly seminars, although about 30 percent typically miss the seminar and are allowed to view it later online.

Judges who preside over law guardian cases are asked to submit evaluations of the attorneys every year. Only if there are serious complaints or concerns about an attorney's performance are they subject to be personally interviewed. But lawyers are very rarely removed from the panels once they are approved and appointed.

"There is no easier way to get tax dollars," said Michael Katz, a White Plains court watcher who created a public online forum, nydivorceconsultants.com, to share resources, publish records and expose flaws in the family court system. "You have an elected judge handing over a huge amount of money to a small pool of people and there is absolutely no accountability. It's just a stream of money going one way."

More than in other courts, family court proceedings occur almost entirely out of public view. In recent years court officials have moved to make proceedings more transparent. But because the law protects the privacy of juveniles, there is still limited access by the press and public. There are also no juries — judges are both judge and jury.

They also have the final say on assigned-counsel appointments and who they are given to.

"Shining a spotlight on a part of our justice system that isn't regularly exposed to public accountability is something that is always a good thing," said Gershman, the law professor. "It keeps the judges on their toes, it keeps the lawyers on their toes. It is something that I think is a necessary corrective. Sunlight is always a good thing."

State court rules limit how much a court-appointed law guardian can earn year to year. An attorney who earns $75,000 or more is prohibited from accepting any appointments the following year, according to Part 36 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Only one of their cases any given year can earn them $15,000 or more.

The problem is that the law only applies to "law guardians who are not paid from public funds." In other words, only attorneys appointed as law guardians but paid privately are limited in what the can earn year to year.

Scheinkman said the private fees were capped, in part, to ensure that the same favored attorneys would not receive the lion's share of what were then more lucrative privately funded appointments.

Top earners

In the 9th District, 18 attorneys have earned $200,000 or more for publicly funded law guardian appointments since 2010.

Attorneys for Children lawyers are paid by the state court system. The top earner in the 9th district, former Westchester prosecutor Darren DeUrso, has collected more than $442,000 in public funds since 2010.

DeUrso said all of his public law guardian earnings come from long hours and hard work — and at less money than if he took on higher-paying private cases. He said he currently has 53 juvenile clients, and has focused largely on family court cases since 1993.

"It's a very emotional and traumatic court," he said. "These are the hardest cases, and this is what I do. I feel privileged, and I'm very emphatic to represent children in the family court."

"With all due respect to everyone, I'm working my tail off. I'm not living a life of luxury here," DeUrso added. "I'm the first one in and the last one out the door. I work weekends. I work very, very long hours."

Theresa Daniele, the second-highest earner in the 9th District, with $383,671 in publicly funded billing over the same time period, said she also almost exclusively does law guardian appointments.

"I don't do a lot of other work," Daniele said. "I do primarily this."

Other lawyers among the more than 180 on the local Attorneys for Children lists are Larchmont Village Justice Thea Beaver, who earned $112,670 since 2010, and Lewisboro Town Board member John Pappalardo, who earned $128,024. Monroe Town Justice Lurlyn Winchester-Youngblood, a New City attorney, earned $104,214.

Lower on the local list, with earnings below $40,000 in vouchers, are Yorktown Town Justice Salvatore Lagonia, outgoing Sleepy Hollow Village Attorney Janet Gandolfo and Mount Vernon school board President Elias Goodzeit.

Former Westchester County Legislator Paul Noto is on the panel but has not reported public earnings since 2010.

Twitter: @jfitzgibbon

Here's a breakdown of taxpayer costs for the Attorneys for Children program between the start of 2010 and April 2014:

•Taxpayers spent $16.9 million between the start of 2010 and April 2014 — the end of the last fiscal year — for law guardian work in the 9th Judicial District, comprised of Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess and Orange counties.

•The 9th District spent more in law guardian fees than courts in Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx or Manhattan.

•Westchester, Rockland and Putnam account for $11.9 million of the district total; Westchester alone for $10 million.

•Westchester Family Court, the largest in the judicial district, cost taxpayers $9.6 million in law guardian fees, or 60 percent of the total.

•Putnam Family Court spent $1,173,223 in these attorney fees; Rockland Family Court spent $525,395.52.

Tax-funded legal work

Taxpayers funded nearly $17 million in payments to court-appointed attorneys on a pre-approved panel to represent juveniles in family, supreme or surrogate's court cases in the 9th Judicial District. The district encompasses courts in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess and Orange counties. The numbers below reflect all tax-funded payments between the start of 2010 and April 2014 to lawyers on the Attorneys for Children panels in the judicial district.

9th Judicial District

Total: $16,910,575.79

Family Courts: $16,272,386.45

Supreme Courts: $640,534.12

Surrogates Courts: $6,229.22

Westchester, Rockland and Putnam

Total: $11,938,624.25

Family Courts: $11,395,387.05

Supreme Courts: $537,007.98

Surrogate Courts: $6,229.22

Westchester

Total: $10,141,315.69

Family Court: $9,696,768.69

Supreme Court: $441,995.50

Surrogate's Court: $2,551.50

Rockland

Total: $554,421.88

Family Court: $525,395.52

Supreme Court: $28,538.86

Surrogate's Court: $487.50

Putnam

Total: $1,242,886.68

Family Court: $1,173,222.84

Supreme Court: $66,473.62

Surrogate's Court: $3,190.22

Source: New York state Office of Court Administration

Listed here are the top 25 earners between the start of 2010 and April 2014 among lawyers on the Attorneys for Children panels in the 9th Judicial District, which includes Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties. The numbers reflect public funds paid for court appointments to serve as law guardians for juveniles in custody, abuse and delinquency cases. All of the attorneys listed worked primarily in either Westchester, Rockland or Putnam courts.

Listed here are the top 10 counties in New York ranked based on total public funds paid out between the start of 2010 and April 2014 for court-appointed legal work for lawyers on Attorneys for Children panels. Attorneys on the panels are appointed to serve as law guardians for juveniles in custody, abuse and delinquency cases.

Other taxpayer-funded legal costs

New York courts also provide legal services to adults charged with crimes who cannot afford to pay lawyers.

Assigned-counsel or 18b attorneys — named for the law that established New York's method for providing lawyers to the poor — are split between the Legal Aid Society and private attorneys who are appointed to represent adult indigent clients. Westchester County alone pays out more than $19 million every year for Legal Aid and 18b legal work, with $11.3 million going to private attorneys in 2013.

As with law guardians, 18b attorneys need to be certified by a panel, from which they are assigned cases. There are likewise fee and case limits.

Many lawyers are on both panels, and represent both children and adults.