The Busiest Lawyer on Long Island

Some lawyers work hard.  But apparently none as hard as  Lawrence Reich, according to this Newsday story.  Not only does he work for the law firm of Ingerman Smith of Northport, but he also holds down 5 full-time jobs at 5 different school districts.


The attorney, Lawrence W. Reich, was listed as full time by five different school districts at once – Baldwin, Copiague, East Meadow, Bellmore-Merrick High School and Harborfields, according to records supplied by the New York State comptroller’s office. In 2000, for example, he was credited with working 1,271 days in one year. The year before, he was credited with working 1,286 days.

Wow.  My years don’t even have that many days.  I’m stuck with the usual 365 (leap years excepted).  I bet this guy could give seminars to Biglaw about how to bill.

So what does Reich have to say about his extraordinary, no heroic, efforts on the public dole?


Reich defended his arrangement with the districts as “common practice” among attorneys on Long Island.

This must be the “common practice” of lying, cheating, stealing?  I must have missed that day in law school. 

But he must have some ethical issues, right?  Not according to  his AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell.  So I guess this must be the norm for “V” rated lawyers, as he claims.

I keep wondering what I do wrong when I can’t manage to fit more hours into the day.  This is a lawyer we can all learn something from, provided we don’t get all hung up on little details like scamming the public.

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13 thoughts on “The Busiest Lawyer on Long Island”

  4. mary johnson

    Okay, Reich is exposed. Let’s see if the IRS looks into this. Also, it is interesting that he claims it common practice on Long Island. I will bet this is widespread across NY State, but how about rounding up the others that are engaged in this practice, if it is such common practice.

    Lawyers are supposed to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Will the attorney grievance complaint be looking into this matter? Someone should make sure they do.

    The IRS give a finders fee to those who report tax cheats. Who will be the first to report this?

  5. SHG

    I’m not sure that there are too many like Reich, only because there aren’t that many districts on Long Island and upstate the districts cover far larger geographical areas.  Still, anyone doing this (the common practice) is wrong and the fact that others may also be doing it hardly excuses any of them.

    But your comment does raise a question.  You say “someone” should do something about it.  Why not you? Why is it always someone else who should make a stink?

  7. Expatriate Owl

    As further detailed on my own blog, Larry was counsel in some cases involving school district employee compensation and pension issues. His claim that he didn’t know what the school districts were reporting to the State pension fund is quite dubious.

    And the involvement of the IRS CID in the matter gives us some indication as to what to not be surprised by in any indictment that might come out of this.

  8. SHG

    Larry made his bed and now he’ll have to sleep in it.  As much as Larry has been the focus of attention, he isn’t the own who held the public trust.  I’m waiting to hear how the various BOEs weasal their way out of this.  And how the public deals with their beloved elected officials.

  9. SHG

    Additional info:  Apparently the reference to Ingerman Smith in the original story was incorrect, and Larry Reich moved to Jaspan, Schlesinger and Hoffman.  See this  Newsday story which also includes information about others, including Carol Hoffman and Jerome Ehrlich at Ehrlich, Frazer and Feldman.

    While I don’t personally know Reich, I do know Carol Hoffman and Jerome Ehrlich.  Between these three firms, they cover the bulk of Long Island School Districts, meaning that this is going to have huge ripple effects across the Island.

  11. Simple Justice

    How To Explain Why the Lawyers Were So Wrong

    I’ve previously posted about the Long Island school district scandal surrounding lawyerswho were carried as full time employees on various district’s books in order to receive state pensions. The mess continued yesterday and has exploded with Attorney General Cuomo’s announcement that this was fraud. State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has announced rules to stop this from happening in the future.I had a long chat with an elected official friend of mine about this. We both agreed that some of the lawyers involved simply took advantage of a long-standing perk of the job. They weren’t malevolent about it. …

  13. Anonymous Lawyer

    Very interesting. I actually know quite a bit about all of these attorneys. All of them, at some time, were associated with the Jaspan Firm. Larry Reich, Carol Hoffman & Jerome Ehrlich were all, at one time or another, named partners in the Jaspan Firm. Ehrlich’s partners, Frazer & Feldman, were also at one time partners in the Jaspan firm. This firm is one of the most powerful firms on Long Island, and pride themselves on being “white shoe” “AV Rated” attorneys, yet it appears to me that they are all just a bunch of white collar criminals. And to think that I used to look up to these people. What a disgrace. Is there truly an honest lawyer left. Or are we all so trained to look for loopholes and to stretch the boundaries of the law, that we can’t even tell simple right from wrong anymore?

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