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NEW YORK---An attorney who submitted a "fictionalized version of his legal experience in a resume" and his failed attempt to obstruct justice by extorting money in exchange for testimony, has resulted in his disbarment by the Appellate Division, First Department.
Samuel Gen attempted to extort $100,000 from a robbery defendant in exchange for favorable testimony from the victim according to the attorney grievance committee. The court decision, rendered last week, said Gen only made two "forays" into the legal field, both of which yielded severe ethical violations.
Gen pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court on June 15, 2004, to fourth degree attempted grand larceny, a class A misdemeanor, and was sentenced to a three year conditional discharge, ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and required to perform 200 hours of community service.
Gen, who graduated law school in 1994, was employed from 1985 through October 1999 by Philip Morris, where he held various non-law related positions. Thereafter he performed computer data entry on a per diem basis at placements arranged by a legal temporary employment agency. In May 2003, Gen submitted a copy of his resume to the Meridian Legal Search agency in furtherance of his search for legal employment. The resume stated, untruthfully, that as an attorney, he had maintained his own law office from October 1999 to July 2000; he was assigned, as an attorney, to the legal department of Merrill Lynch and had negotiated and drafted certain Master Credit Agreements; and he had acted as Philip Morris's attorney in negotiating and drafting complex information technology, out-sourcing, and equipment contracts.
In determining the appropriate sanction to be imposed, the Court found that the underlying conviction arose out of an extortionate scheme to obstruct justice by which respondent demanded payment in exchange for possibly perjurious testimony, conduct which strikes at the heart of the proper administration of justice and adversely reflects on his character and fitness to practice law. Gen demanded the payment of $100,000 to secure his client's refusal to cooperate in the prosecution of a burglary suspect, and to provide favorable testimony if the client's appearance was required. Moreover, respondent threatened that absent payment, his client would testify against the burglary suspect, and that he would seek a lengthy prison term, resulting in profound hardship to the family and the suspect, and would also file a $250 million lawsuit.
The decision said that Gen, as a non-practicing attorney, could point to no established record of upholding the strict ethical standard of the legal profession. 4-23-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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