The recent Court of Appeals decision upholding nine out of ten disciplinary charges against Long Island lawyer Peter Galasso, for failing to detect his brother’s multi-million dollar misappropriation of escrow funds (NYLJ, October 24), was a sobering reminder that out of all the ways an attorney can practice law correctly, even the slightest error in the escrow account can lead to disaster.
The Appellate Division’s initial determination was heralded by some as a harbinger of imposing additional, unwritten rules upon attorneys, requiring them, in essence, to see inside the minds of their employees; this, of course, could lead to dire consequences for practitioners whose acts, in unwittingly failing to properly supervise their employees, as the Court of Appeals put it, while “not venal,” would still result in tangible, financial harm to clients.
