Manhattan solo practitioner David Katz was disbarred Tuesday by the Appellate Division, First Department, for misappropriating client funds, commingling personal and client funds and failing to keep adequate records. Katz, who was admitted to the bar in 1982 and kept offices at 116 E. 16th St., was accused by the Departmental Disciplinary Committee of using client funds to pay other clients, among other things. He said his misconduct was caused by the Federal Bureau of Investigation seizing funds he was holding in escrow for certain clients during a probe of those clients.
The committee recommended that Katz be disbarred, and the First Department agreed. It said it is "well settled within this Department that, absent 'exceptional mitigating circumstances' the intentional conversion of escrow funds mandates disbarment," citing its own 2012 decision in Matter of Kennedy, 99 AD3d 75, 77.
