Judges suspend law license of HoganWillig founder Corey J. Hogan

Jan. 5—A panel of judges has barred Corey J. Hogan, a founder of one of the region's best-known law firms, from practicing law for two years because he mixed a client's business with the finances of his HoganWillig firm.

In an order dated Dec. 30, the State Supreme Court Appellate Division, fourth department, said Hogan's law license should be suspended immediately because he violated five rules governing an attorney's professional conduct. A core violation involved "entering into a business relationship with a client where he and the client have differing interests," the ruling indicates.

The panel said it considered Hogan's argument that client Van Buren Farms of Lockport was never harmed financially by its business relationship with him and HoganWillig. But the judges said some of the firm's own lawyers had cautioned Hogan on the ethics of what he was doing, and he had been warned in the past about such conduct.

In 2007, the Attorney Grievance Committee cautioned Hogan in writing after hearing "allegations that he improperly advanced financial assistance to a litigation client," the decision said. Hogan said he was helping a woman make her car payment and pay her utility bills.

Further, the judges said they found a two-year suspension warranted because of Hogan's "failure to express remorse or sufficiently acknowledge his substantial disregard of his ethical obligations."

Hogan said Thursday that he intends to challenge the ruling and will be writing a letter to every lawyer in the judicial district explaining what happened.

"Trying to get to the Court of Appeals will be difficult," he said of persuading the state's top court to reconsider the matter. Still, he said a noted expert on legal ethics, Roy D. Simon, a professor emeritus at the Hofstra University School of Law, had not been allowed to testify when the Attorney Grievance Committee first presented its case. So, Hogan relied on Simon's 23-page affidavit.

"What I see here is a living manifestation of the old saying that no good deed goes unpunished," Simon wrote, adding that Hogan advanced money and resources to the clients' company so it might survive, not to take advantage of it.

"Corey Hogan is a heroic figure who went too far to help his clients, not a nefarious lawyer who tried to take advantage of his clients," Simon stated in the papers.

Hogan said he considers his license suspended, though he has 30 days to wrap up certain legal matters.

In recent months, he challenged certain mandates to stem the spread of Covid-19, including the mandate that state workers be vaccinated. Because of those cases, Hogan said of state leaders, "I am probably not their favorite attorney."

Attorney Michael S. Taheri, who has taught ethics courses at the University of Buffalo Law School and represented lawyers in trouble, said attorneys are required to stay current on fiduciary rules and legal ethics.

"There are a lot of rules regarding management of client money, and those rules are set forth in our code of professional responsibility," Taheri said. "The lawyer's obligation is to remain current. There is continuing legal education that has to be completed."

And if that is not enough, Taheri says lawyers should consider another test: "Would you tell your mother what you did? And if you wouldn't, then you probably shouldn't do it."

Hogan became a licensed attorney in 1975 and, according to the HoganWillig website, founded the firm in 1998 when he merged his Corey J. Hogan and Associates with the Law Office of Ronald Willig. Its offices are at 2410 N. Forest Road in Amherst.

The Attorney Grievance Committee for the Eighth Judicial District presented its case for a hearing before a referee in October. As described by the Appellate Division judges, the grievance committee laid out this sequence of events:

Van Buren Farms — whose principals are Walter H. Van Buren and his son Verne — signed a retainer agreement with HoganWillig in February 2015. The appellate division's ruling does not name Van Buren Farms, but cites publicly filed business records that link the case to the company. Further, Verne Van Buren acknowledged to The Buffalo News, without elaboration, that the company initiated the complaint.

The retainer agreement called for HoganWillig to analyze the company's financial state, help refinance its debt and defend against creditor claims, among other things. Hourly rates were set at $110 to $350, depending on which lawyer was doing the work. Van Buren didn't advance a retainer, but was expected to pay for the firm's work when the debt was refinanced and from other farm income.

But rather than providing legal services alone, Hogan and the law firm began providing "farm management services," such as marketing, digitally mapping the farm fields, bookkeeping, accounting and communicating with clients and customers, the ruling said.

The law firm and Hogan himself began pouring money into Van Buren Farms to stave off an imminent financial crisis. They covered purchases for seed, fertilizer, fuel and other expenses, the ruling said. The judges also said a Hogan-controlled limited liability company bought the farm 11 pieces of equipment to help with the 2016 harvest.

However, the clients were not provided with promissory notes or other loan documents, purchase documents or papers indicating what was to happen with the equipment after the 2016 season.

Hogan, meanwhile, filed a uniformed commercial code financing statement with the Department of State listing Van Buren Farms as HoganWillig's debtor and laying claim to crops, livestock, products and supplies as collateral, the judges said. The judges cited the referee's finding that Hogan also took out three collateral security mortgages that placed Van Buren Farms in debt to HoganWillig for a total of $500,000.

With the filing of the uniform commercial code document and the mortgages, Hogan did not explain to his clients the terms of the transactions "in a manner that could be reasonably understood by them," nor did he give them an opportunity to seek the advice of another lawyer, the judges said.

The judges said Van Buren Farms eventually owed HoganWillig around $490,000 for cash advances and more than $687,000 for legal fees. But the referee found that Hogan and HoganWillig never demanded payment and later discharged the mortgages and terminated the UCC financing statement, the judges said.

Agreeing with the referee, the judges said that Hogan's decision to forgo repayment did not change the fact he had mixed his firm's business interests with those of his clients. They said he ran the risk of letting his professional judgement be adversely affected by his own financial and personal interests.

Ronald A. Mittleman, an attorney who represented the Van Burens in the matter, prevented them from publicly discussing the case.

"We think the decision is appropriate, and we are happy with the outcome," he said.

Hogan said the relationship with his clients soured when he learned they had been selling hay without using all proceeds to pay off debts.

"Did I have any remorse?" he asked. "No. We did our best to help them."

News staff reporter Lou Michel contributed to this story.

___

(c)2023 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.)

Visit The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.) at www.buffalonews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.