ALBANY –The 1990s have brought a steady increase in misconduct complaints and disciplinary actions against New York lawyers, a dreary inflation that has set sobering records in all four judicial departments, according to the New York State Bar Association’s Annual Report on Lawyer Discipline.
Complaints reached a record high of 13,528 in 1998, an increase of 58 percent since 1990. Public sanctions imposed by the Appellate Divisions rose by 56 percent over the same period, to 252 disbarrments, suspensions and censures last year. And private sanctions imposed by the grievance committees rose 52 percent to a record 1,135.
