An appellate court has suspended Scarsdale lawyer Andrew H. Kulak from practicing law for two years for mismanaging client funds.
The Second Appellate Division confirmed a special referee”™s report and findings of the regional attorney grievance committee, on June 22, on 27 charges of professional misconduct.
His “misconduct was neither isolated nor inadvertent,” the panel of five justices stated in their opinion, and his actions “show a blatant disregard for his duties as a fiduciary.”
Kulak did not dispute the findings, the court noted.
Kulak is a partner in Kulak & Zaslowsky, White Plains, working on commercial collections and litigation, real estate, and  guardianships, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was an administrative hearing officer for the Westchester County Attorney from 2001 to 2088 and an administrative law judge for the Westchester County Human Rights Commission from 2002 to 2012.
The findings covered 19 client matters from 2016 to 2017 and his management of the firm”™s escrow account.
The escrow account was supposed to have funds deposited on behalf of clients, but frequent withdrawals often left it with less money than the clients were entitled to after paying legal fees. Escrow balances fell to as low as $26.88 when clients were owed thousands of dollars.
Kulak deposited $15,549 he had collected from Meadowlands Hospital, in November 2016, for instance, on behalf of Hughes Environmental. He was entitled to a $4,665 fee, leaving a balance of $10,885 for Hughes, but five months later the escrow account had only $45.93.
He told the grievance committee that he had put his client”™s share of the funds in a safe at his home and then in a safe deposit box he shared with his wife, because Meadowlands was in bankruptcy and he feared that the funds could be subject to a bankruptcy preferential payment action. But the hospital had not filed for bankruptcy, the grievance committee found.
More than two years after receiving the funds, Kulak paid Hughes.
In several instances, funds were moved back and forth from bank accounts, clients were paid more than they were entitled to, or deposits were not accounted for.
In the “Waterscape Resort matter,” for example, 41 checks totaling $9,651 were issued from the escrow account to the law firm, but Kulak could not identify the purposes of the disbursements.
The grievance committee charged Kulak with misappropriation of client funds; failures to safeguard funds and to promptly pay funds; dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation; conduct that reflects on his fitness as a lawyer; failure to account for funds; and maintaining an insufficient escrow balance.
Kulak”™s attorney, Chris McDonough, asked the appellate court to issue a public censure. No client had suffered a pecuniary loss, he argued, Kulak had been experiencing personal and professional issues, he has implemented remedial measures, there is evidence of his good character and he is remorseful.
The appellate panel concluded that the “totality of the circumstances” warrant a two-year suspension from the practice of law.
