Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department

M35480

K/nal

ANITA R. FLORIO, J.P.

HOWARD MILLER

ROBERT W. SCHMIDT

THOMAS A. ADAMS

DANIEL F. LUCIANO, JJ.

1997-11662 In the Matter of Cornell D.M.J. Cornish, admitted as Cornell D. Cornish, a suspended attorney. (Attorney Registration No. 1868975)

DECISION & ORDER ON APPLICATION FOR REINSTATEMENT

Application by the respondent, Cornell D.M.J. Cornish, for reinstatement as an attorney and counselor-at-law. The respondent was admitted to the Bar at a term of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial Department on June 23, 1982, under the name Cornell D. Cornish. By order of the Maryland Court of Appeals dated December 4, 1995, the respondent was placed on inactive status and his name was stricken from the register of attorneys in the State of Maryland. By subsequent order of the same court dated February 7, 1996, the respondent's application for dissolution or amendment of his inactive status was denied. By decision and order of this court dated March 16, 1998, the Grievance Committee's motion to impose reciprocal discipline upon the respondent based upon the disciplinary action taken against him by the Maryland Court of Appeals was held in abeyance pending a hearing at the respondent's request. By opinion of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals dated March 27, 1997, the respondent was suspended indefinitely from the practice of law in the District of Columbia based on the action of the Maryland court, with his reinstatement conditioned upon a showing of fitness. By order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dated April 3, 1996, the respondent was suspended from the practice of law in that court pending his reinstatement in Maryland. By opinion and order of this court dated August 17, 1998, the respondent was suspended from the practice of law in the State of New York for a period of five years, with his reinstatement to the New York Bar conditioned upon his reinstatement to the Maryland Bar. In a decision and order appended to that opinion, the respondent's motion, inter alia, for summary judgment or a new trial was denied. By decision and order of this court dated November 20, 1998, the respondent's motion, inter alia, for leave to appeal this court's decision and order dated August 17, 1998 to the Court of Appeals was denied. By order dated November 16, 2000, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals reinstated the respondent to the District of Columbia Bar. By order of the Maryland Court of Appeals dated October 3, 2003, the respondent was reinstated to the practice of law in Maryland. By decision and order of this court dated November 1, 2004, the respondent's application for reinstatement as an attorney and counselor-at-law was held in abeyance and the matter referred to the Committee on Character and Fitness to investigate and report on the respondent's current fitness to be an attorney, including but not limited to the respondent's admission to the Maryland Court of Appeals that he was "unable and has no desire to cope with the demands of the practice of law," and the position of the New York Lawyer's Fund for Client Protection with respect to the respondent's application for reinstatement.

Upon the report of the Committee on Character and Fitness, it is

ORDERED that the application is granted; and it is further,

ORDERED that, effective immediately, the respondent is reinstated as an attorney and counselor-at-law and the Clerk of the court is directed to restore the name of Cornell D.M.J. Cornish, admitted as Cornell D. Cornish, to the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law.

FLORIO, J.P., H. MILLER, SCHMIDT, ADAMS and LUCIANO, JJ., concur.

ENTER:

James Edward Pelzer

Clerk of the Court