Legal non-profit founder gets law license suspended over unauthorized pay - Reuters
- Laurie Parise improperly collected $51,984 over the course of two years
- New York court said Parise accepted responsibility, cooperated with disciplinary process
- License suspended for nine months
(Reuters) - A New York appellate court on Thursday suspended the law license of a former non-profit executive for nine months for giving herself a raise without her board's approval.
Laurie Parise collected $51,984 in unauthorized distributions between 2016 and 2018 while serving as executive director of an unnamed non-profit organization, the New York's Appellate Division, First Department found.
Her suspension will begin Oct. 26, the appellate court ruled. The court noted that Parise admitted to making the unauthorized distributions.
"We agree that a nine-month suspension is appropriate, since it adequately balances respondent's misappropriation of her organization's funds over a three-year period with the factors in mitigation and is consistent with our prior decisions," the court ruled.
Parise declined to comment.
Although the appellate court's ruling doesn't specify the organization Parise was leading during the period in question, press reports and non-profit records show that she was the executive director of Youth Represent, a New York City-based organization she founded that provides legal services to young people under the age of 25.
Parise stepped down as executive director of Youth Represent in March 2019. Michael Pope, the organization's current executive director, did not respond to a request for comment.
The appellate court noted that Parise "expressed remorse, immediately accepted responsibility, and has fully cooperated" with the investigation.
At the time, Parise and her family were experiencing "significant financial distress" in part due to her husband's disability, the court said. She accrued debt, borrowed fully against her retirement account, could not obtain a bank loan, and was at risk of being evicted, the court added.
The money Parise took from the organization did not affect its programming, the court found. She paid the organization $11,984 and has agreed to repay the insurer who covered the remaining $40,000.
Parise voluntarily stopped practicing law in February, and "left all of her positions in the legal profession to avoid embarrassing others." She is currently managing director of The Animation Project Inc, a non-profit organization that teaches young people animation.
source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/legal-non-profit-founder-gets-law-license-suspended-over-unauthorized-pay-2021-09-23/
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