Matter of Dean

Matter of Dean (2021 NY Slip Op 05610)
Matter of Dean
2021 NY Slip Op 05610
Decided on October 14, 2021
Appellate Division, Third Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.


Decided and Entered:October 14, 2021

PM-135-21

[*1]In the Matter of Martha A. Dean, an Attorney. (Attorney Registration No. 5340609.)


Calendar Date:October 4, 2021
Before:Garry, P.J., Lynch, Clark, Pritzker and Reynolds Fitzgerald, JJ.

Martha A. Dean, Avon, Connecticut, pro se.

Monica A. Duffy, Attorney Grievance Committee for the Third Judicial Department, Albany, for Attorney Grievance Committee for the Third Judicial Department.



Per Curiam.

Martha A. Dean was admitted to practice by this Court in 2015 and lists a Connecticut business address with the Office of Court Administration. Dean has applied to this Court, by affidavit sworn to August 16, 2021, for leave to resign from the New York bar for nondisciplinary reasons (see Rules for Attorney Disciplinary Matters [22 NYCRR] § 1240.22 [a]). The Attorney Grievance Committee for the Third Judicial Department (hereinafter AGC) opposes the application, contending that Dean is ineligible for nondisciplinary resignation because she has failed to fulfill her attorney registration requirements for the most recent biennial period beginning in 2021 (see Judiciary Law § 468-a; Matter of Lee, 148 AD3d 1350 [2017]; Matter of Bomba, 146 AD3d 1226, 1226-1227 [2017]; Rules of the Chief Admin of Cts [22 NYCRR] § 118.1).

In reply to AGC's opposition, however, Dean has submitted a supplemental affidavit with exhibit, sworn to September 29, 2021, in which she attests that she is now current in her New York attorney registration requirements. Furthermore, Office of Court Administration records likewise establish that Dean has duly registered and cured any preexisting registration delinquency. Accordingly, with AGC voicing no other substantive objection to her application, and having determined that Dean is now eligible to resign for nondisciplinary reasons (compare Matter of Tierney, 148 AD3d 1457, 1458 [2017]; Matter of Bomba, 146 AD3d at 1227), we grant the application and accept her resignation.

Garry, P.J., Lynch, Clark, Pritzker and Reynolds Fitzgerald, JJ., concur.

ORDERED that Martha A. Dean 's application for permission to resign is granted and her nondisciplinary resignation is accepted; and it is further

ORDERED that Martha A. Dean's name is hereby stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law of the State of New York, effective immediately, and until further order of this Court (see generally Rules for Attorney Disciplinary Matters [22 NYCRR] § 1240.22 [b]); and it is further

ORDERED that Martha A. Dean is commanded to desist and refrain from the practice of law in any form in the State of New York, either as principal or as agent, clerk or employee of another; and Dean is hereby forbidden to appear as an attorney or counselor-at-law before any court, judge, justice, board, commission or other public authority, or to give to another an opinion as to the law or its application, or any advice in relation thereto, or to hold herself out in any way as an attorney and counselor-at-law in this State; and it is further

ORDERED that Martha A. Dean shall, within 30 days of the date of this decision, surrender to the Office of Court Administration any Attorney Secure Pass issued to her.