A Yonkers attorney has been suspended from practicing law for two years for allowing her husband to represent clients while he was not licensed in New York.
A panel of five justices of the Second Appellate Court ruled on Sept. 13 that JenniElena Rubino violated four charges of professional misconduct for letting New Jersey attorney Jean Paul Le Du participate in 30 cases in New York, including three times when he was not licensed anywhere.
She “engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation,” the justices found, “that adversely reflects on her fitness as a lawyer.”
The Rubino Law Firm specializes in cases that involve bullying of children, civil rights, and personal injuries, according to its website.
Rubino is licensed in New York and New Jersey and has been practicing since 2007. She is also on the board of The Spectrum Project, a nonprofit organization that advocates for children with autism.
Le Du was licensed to practice law in New Jersey in 2017 but failed to pass the New York bar examination on his second try that year
The court cited several examples of improper conduct.
In 2017, for instance, before Le Du was licensed in New Jersey, he examined the defendant in a pre-trial action in a Bronx case.
In 2017, he conducted jury selection in a Suffolk County case. When the judge learned that he was not licensed in New York, he disbanded the jury. Later, Rubino told the judge that she had intended to ask permission for her husband to participate in the case.
In 2018, according to the ruling, Le Du cross-examined an expert witness and delivered the closing argument in an Orange County lawsuit. Nine months after the jury rendered a verdict, Rubino retroactively sought to have Le Du approved as an attorney in the case. The court denied the motion.
The lawyers grievance committee for the lower Hudson Valley notified Rubino in 2019 that it had begun a disciplinary proceeding. She admitted to aiding a nonlawyer in the unauthorized practice of law. But she disputed three misconduct charges, arguing that she believed that Le Du could practice under her supervision without asking for approval from judges overseeing cases.
In 2019, the appellate court referred the matter to a special referee, Alfred J. Weiner.
He held a hearing in 2021 and submitted a report to the appellate court in 2022. He sustained the primary charge of aiding a nonlawyer in the unauthorized practice of law, but did not sustain three charges of professional misconduct.
The lawyer’s grievance committee asked the appellate court to sustain all charges. The justices agreed.
In deciding the appropriate discipline, the appellate panel weighed her health and her record of good character and pro bono work.
She suffers from chronic Lyme disease that contributes to her feeling of being overwhelmed and exhausted and that led her to rely on her husband to handle cases, the justices said.
They noted her work on behalf of bullied children and children with autism and special needs.
“Under the totality of the circumstances,” the justices ruled, her “conduct warrants her suspension from the practice of law for a period of two years.”
The suspension begins Oct. 13.
