Albany attorney leaves firm after state investigation
Headline News
An Albany, N.Y., attorney investigated by the state for allegedly exaggerating his time sheets has stepped down from his post at Girvin & Ferlazzo P.C.
James McCarthy resigned from his "of counsel" position at the Albany law firm on the afternoon of May 2, according to a spokesman with Sawchuk Brown Associates, which is representing the law firm.
Generally, attorneys "of counsel" are part-time workers who are not partners or associates. McCarthy had been with the firm since 1992 and never earned a salary, according to the Sawchuk Brown spokesman.
Earlier on May 2, McCarthy resigned from his job with the state Department of Correctional Services after the state inspector general published a report saying that McCarthy exaggerated his time sheets and was often either at Girvin & Ferlazzo or at Wolferts Roost Country Club in Albany when he was allegedly on the clock.
McCarthy was in charge of preparing and processing paperwork for extraditions and renditions of fugitives or accused criminals. It was a part-time job, meaning he was supposed to work 18.75 hours per week, earning $60,867 a year.
In the resignation letter to the state, McCarthy said he stepped down "so as not to be a distraction" to the state corrections department.
"There are no shortage of opportunities for him. His talent as a lawyer allows him to walk away from those jobs with some confidence," said Karl Sleight, an attorney with Harris Beach PLLC and McCarthy's lawyer.
State investigators studied 12 weeks of McCarthy's work over the course of 2007. During those weeks, McCarthy was paid $6,000 for hours that he never logged, according to the inspector general's report.
On his time sheets, he claimed more than twice the hours that he actually worked, adding 120 hours of work onto the 98 hours he actually logged, the report said.
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