A criminal defense attorney and former magistrate judge based in Georgia has been disbarred in New York state on reciprocal discipline, after she surrendered her bar license in Georgia in the wake of her signing a judge’s initials to a court order benefitting her client.

Elizabeth Vila Rogan. Photo: Rebecca Breyer Elizabeth Vila Rogan. Photo: Rebecca Breyer

A New York appeals court said that a “disbarment is the appropriate sanction” for Elizabeth Vila Rogan, who had been a member of both the Georgia and New York bars, because “it is commensurate with the discipline imposed by Georgia and in accord with this court’s precedent involving similar misconduct.”