A veteran Manhattan lawyer has been suspended from practicing law immediately pending further court order, and he may face more punishment, after a state appeals court found Thursday that the attorney repeatedly misappropriated and converted client and third-party funds held in escrow, often using the money for himself.

Dennis A. Schuman, whose office phone line describes him as a personal injury and general practice attorney, and who has been practicing law for more than 40 years in New York, has been suspended based on evidence that between 2012 and 2018 he misappropriated case settlement funds, and ignored or found ways around third-party liens on parts of the funds, in three different instances, according to an Appellate Division, First Department decision suspending him.

Schuman, who is representing himself pro se before the First Department, could not be reached for comment Friday.

In one instance, wrote a unanimous First Department panel, which cited evidence gathered by an investigating First Department attorney grievance committee, Schuman in late 2012 deposited $75,000 in settlement funds into his escrow account and then issued a check to his client for only $1,000.

At the same time, Global Financial Credit LLC, a litigation financing company, which had loaned the client in the case $6,000, maintained a lien on the settlement recovery, and, pursuant to an agreement, no money was to be disbursed by Schuman to his client until that lien was satisfied.

Then, between Dec. 26, 2012, and Jan. 31, 2013, Schuman made five cash withdrawals for a total of $31,750 from his escrow account while placing the cash into his operating account, the unanimous panel wrote.

And in February 2013, Schuman sent an escrow check for $20,000 to his client's landlord, the panel wrote.

Later, in March 2013, Schuman issued three escrow checks payable to himself totaling $22,000, even though at this point he still hadn't paid Global, which would end up having a claim to $18,000, the panel wrote.

During a 2019 deposition of Schuman conducted by the First Department disciplinary committee, he admitted to using his client's settlement funds for personal use, and the committee, the panel wrote, contends there's evidence that Schuman misappropriated about $29,000 to pay for personal and business expenses, even as he should have paid $18,000 to Global and $11,000 to his client.

The panel added that in response to those committee allegations, Schuman claims that he has since satisfied Global's lien and doesn't owe his any client money. But the panel noted that Schuman, who was admitted to the state bar in 1976, hasn't put forward any documents showing those payments have actually been made.

In another instance, Schuman settled a client's case for $45,000 in August 2016, wrote panel Justices Rolando Acosta, David Friedman, Dianne Renwick, Cynthia Kern and Jeffrey Oing, and they noted that the client had gotten a $4,150 cash advance loan from Global Financial in 2011.

The court in the underlying case ordered that from the $45,000 settlement, Schuman would be paid $10,500 in legal fees and Global would be paid $9,000 from the client's $34,500 share of the settlement. But Schuman later disbursed $25,500 to his client and $10,500 to himself, the panel wrote.

And then on December 20, 2017, he issued an escrow check for $9,000 payable to himself, which had on it the notation – "to pay [client] loan to Global Financial," and the $9,000 to Global was not paid, wrote the panel.

"Notably, at [a] February 7, 2019 deposition, respondent [Schuman] admitted that he used $9,000, intended for Global, to pay for personal and business expenses," the panel further wrote. The panel added, "In response to the Committee's allegation that respondent [Schuman] failed to pay Global in accordance with the court's order, respondent alleged that Global refused to accept money from him and sought a greater amount, which, in his view meant that the $9,000 no longer belonged to Global. Nevertheless, on February 23, 2018, respondent paid Global $9,000."

Near the end of its detailed opinion, the panel wrote, "We find that the committee has met its burden and respondent should be immediately suspended until further order of this court." The justices added, "The record sufficiently establishes that respondent [Schuman] repeatedly misappropriated and/or converted client and third-party funds and used the funds without permission for his own personal purposes."