Former East Rochester judge Terrence Brown-Steiner resigns; admits misappropriating $400,000

A local lawyer who until last month served as an East Rochester town justice has surrendered his law license after admitting to a legal disciplinary committee that he bilked clients and misappropriated nearly $400,000.

The lawyer, Terrence Brown-Steiner, admitted to the theft of some client payments and agreed to pay restitution to former clients, court papers show. He agreed to resign as a lawyer and surrender his license, the equivalent of a disbarment.

Brown-Steiner resigned as an East Rochester town justice in October.

In an affidavit, Brown-Steiner wrote that he knows that the admission of his offenses will "result in the entry of an order of disbarment striking my name from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law."

"I admit the allegations of misconduct," Brown-Steiner wrote in the Oct. 12 affidavit. "I have no defense to the allegations."

Brown-Steiner's attorney, Jeffrey Wicks, declined to comment on the matter, and said that Brown-Steiner also would not comment.

According to court papers, Brown-Steiner admitted that he:

• Misappropriated nearly $350,000 from the sale of a Webster home; he represented the sellers at the 2015 closing. Brown-Steiner did not pay off the mortgage with the proceeds, and Chicago Title Insurance Company stepped in and covered the costs to head off a foreclosure. 

Brown-Steiner has paid more than $75,000 in restitution to Chicago Title, and has agreed to pay the remaining $270,000.

• Kept over $20,000 from a client that he owed her after the payoff of a mortgage.

• Received $10,000 from another client in fees that he was not due and should not have kept.

• Failed to keep a required local account while handling an estate with an out-of-state executor. Brown-Steiner said some client fees were still due, but he ultimately agreed with the legal grievance committee position that he owed the executor $20,000 he had been holding.

•  Paid a $6,745 bill from $10,000 he held for a client, but did not return the remainder, and must pay back the $3,255.

TheDemocrat and Chronicle received court papers in the case after a formal request to officials at the regional appellate court, which oversees the disciplinary investigations and determinations with lawyers. Court officials will not discuss the disciplinary matters.

The papers received from the State Supreme Court Appellate Division, Fourth Department, do not reveal how the investigation into Brown-Steiner's misuse of client funds began.

The appellate court's disciplinary unit investigates possibles misdeeds by lawyers, but has no prosecutorial power and does not work hand-in-hand with local prosecutors. The District Attorney's Office determines whether any lapses could be criminal.