Matter of Parente

Respondent was admitted to practice by this Court in 1989, and currently practices with a law firm in the City of Albany. By petition dated January 6, 2016, which contained three charges with eight specifications, petitioner alleged that respondent committed certain professional misconduct based upon his failure to safeguard escrow funds that were willfully misappropriated by his former law partner (Matter of Crane, 113 AD3d 963 [2014]). Issue was joined in February 2016. Following unsuccessful negotiations between the parties concerning a stipulation of facts and the subsequent substitution…