The New York Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) are disciplinary rules that all lawyers are bound to follow. These rules were adopted effective April 1, 2009 and are published as Part 1200 of the Joint Rules of the Appellate Division (22 NYCRR 1200). Part 1400 of the Joint Rules of the Appellate Divisions contains additional specific disciplinary rules that apply to all attorneys who handle “domestic relations matters” (22 NYCRR 1400). Part 1400 was specifically “promulgated to address abuses in the practice of matrimonial law and to protect the public. Seth Rubinstein, P.C. v. Ganea, 41 A.D.3d 54 (2d Dept. 2007); Julien v. Machson, 245 A.D.2d 122.
The recent decision in Adjmi v. Tawil, — N.Y.S.3d —-, 2020 WL 573175 (1st Dept. 2020), demonstrates that an attorney who does not comply with the matrimonial rules can be denied counsel fees when he makes an application for fees pursuant to the Domestic Relations Law. In Adjmi, the Appellate Division reversed an award of counsel fees to the wife of an apparently wealthy man because her attorney failed to comply with 22 NYCRR Part 1400. The court held that the award of counsel fees to defendant “… was precluded by her attorney’s failure to comply with the rules pertaining to domestic relations matters (22 NYCRR part 1400). Defendant was represented in the matrimonial proceedings by her father, a patent lawyer, for more than a year. However, she did not execute a retainer agreement until shortly before the trial, and she testified that her father had never sent her an itemized bill (see 22 NYCRR 1400.3)”. (citations omitted)
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