Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department

M177023

E/ct

RANDALL T. ENG, P.J.

WILLIAM F. MASTRO

REINALDO E. RIVERA

PETER B. SKELOS

CHERYL E. CHAMBERS, JJ.

2000-08962 In the Matter of Gary J. Rothman, a disbarred attorney. (Attorney Registration No. 2426971)

DECISION & ORDER ON MOTION FOR REINSTATEMENT

Motion by Gary J. Rothman for reinstatement to the Bar as an attorney and counselor-at-law. Mr. Rothman was admitted to the Bar at a term of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial Department on February 21, 1973. By opinion dated August 29, 1988, in an unrelated proceeding based upon the acts underlying his conviction of the crime of conspiracy in the fifth degree, a class A misdemeanor, this Court confirmed a Special Referee's report which sustained a charge of professional misconduct, and suspended Mr. Rothman from the practice of law for a period of five years, nunc pro tunc, as of December 10, 1984. By decision and order of this Court dated June 27, 1991, Mr. Rothman was reinstated to the Bar.

By letter dated July 6, 2000, Mr. Rothman advised the Court that on May 12, 2000, he pleaded guilty in Supreme Court, New York County, to conspiracy in the fifth degree, a class A misdemeanor, in violation of Penal Law § 105.05(1), on charges unrelated to his prior conviction. He was sentenced to a conditional discharge and a $1,000 fine with the understanding that he resign from the bar. By opinion and order of this Court dated January 16, 2001, Mr. Rothman was disbarred upon his resignation (see Matter of Rothman, 280 AD2d 88).

By decision and order on motion of this Court dated June 11, 2009, Mr. Rothman's first motion for reinstatement was denied. By decision and order on motion of this Court dated February 2, 2011, Mr. Rothman's second motion for reinstatement was held in abeyance and the matter was referred to the Committee on Character and Fitness to investigate and report on respondent's fitness to be an attorney. By decision and order on motion of this Court dated June 1, 2012, Mr. Rothman's second motion for reinstatement was denied. By decision and order on motion of this Court dated December 17, 2012, Mr. Rothman's motion for reargument of the second motion for reinstatement was denied.

Upon the papers filed in support of the motion and the papers filed in relation thereto, it is

ORDERED that Mr. Rothman's motion is held in abeyance and the matter is referred to the Committee on Character and Fitness to investigate and report on the Mr. Rothman's current character and general fitness to practice law.

ENG, P.J., MASTRO, RIVERA, SKELOS and CHAMBERS, JJ., concur.

ENTER:

Aprilanne Agostino

Clerk of the Court