QUESTIONABLE JUDGE-MENT
Impeach firm’s tie to gov jurist
A white-shoe law firm tied to state Chief Judge Janet DiFiore was hired Wednesday to assist in the impeachment investigation of Gov. Cuomo — and immediately came under fire by a lawyer for one of his accusers.
Davis Polk & Wardwell — where DiFiore’s husband was a partner for more than three decades — has “the experience, independence and resources needed to handle this important investigation in a thorough and expeditious manner,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) said.
But a lawyer for ex-Cuomo aide Charlotte Bennett said she was “alarmed” by the deal, calling it “an unacceptable conflict of interest.”
“We already know the extent to which Governor Cuomo has surrounded himself with people in the Executive Chamber who enabled his behavior and swept evidence of sexual harassment under the rug,” lawyer Debra Katz said.
“If there is even a hint of political influence in the impeachment investigation, it will taint the entire proceedings.”
The Sexual Harassment Working Group, which is made up of eight women who formerly worked as state legislative aides, also said Davis Polk was “selected without a transparent process . . . has a clear conflict of interest and lacks significant employment law experience.”
During comments to reporters in Albany, Heastie repeatedly said there was no conflict of interest in hiring Davis Polk and said terms of the firm’s contract hadn’t been finalized.
But in a July 2020 application for payment of $19.4 million in compensation and expenses tied to the bankruptcy of prescription-opioid giant Purdue Pharma, Davis Polk said the “blended rate” for its partners, associates and “of counsel” lawyers who worked on the case was $1,052.16 an hour.
A 2018 report by the BTI Consulting Group also said the firm was among only six charging the “highest of the high” rate of $2,000 an hour.
A spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration said DiFiore had nothing to do with the hiring of Davis Polk.
“The Chief Judge has neither any connection to the firm nor was involved with its choice by the Assembly Judiciary Committee,” spokesman Lucian Chalfen said.
Assembly Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Lavine (D-LI) also said Davis Polk had been “thoroughly vetted,” adding, “I am confident they will assist the committee and me to conduct a fair and impartial investigation.”
A Davis Polk spokeswoman didn’t return a request for comment.
The Davis Polk team will include former federal prosecutor Greg Andres, who led one of two teams for special counsel Robert Mueller that won convictions against Paul Manafort, ex-President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman.
Former federal prosecutor Martine Beamon and Angela Burgess, co-chair of Davis Polk’s White Collar Defense & Investigations Group, will also be working on the impeachment probe.
DiFiore’s husband, Dennis Glazer, retired as co-head of the Litigation Department at Davis Polk before being appointed by the Cuomo-controlled Gaming Commission to its influential casino-siting board in 2014.
The governor also named Glazer the chairman of the Purchase College Council in 2019.
If Cuomo were to be impeached, DiFiore, who was nominated to her post by him, would get to vote on the verdict at his Senate trial, as would the other six judges on the Court of Appeals, who also are all Cuomo nominees.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) would be precluded from voting under a provision in the state constitution governing gubernatorial impeachment trials.