“Sheldon Silver sentenced to 7 years in prison for corruption” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Liability roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Sheldon Silver conviction overturned, faces retrial is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Asbestos roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

P.S. Commenter VMS says this step is a formality, Silver lost his right to practice as an attorney on conviction in November.

Sheldon Silver disbarred is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 6 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

So does this mean better days ahead for New York, a terribly misgoverned state? As one who has been writing about New York politics since way back, I can’t bring myself to be too optimistic.

I got interested in Silver originally because of his distinctive role as protector of New York’s trial lawyers… But legal policy was only one of the many pots in which Silver kept his fingers, as Steven Malanga and Seth Barron detail in separate articles at City Journal. New York sluices huge amounts of money in its gigantic social services apparatus through non-profits, and friends of Sheldon were there to profit. Real estate development in New York is subject to famously convoluted restrictions, and huge sums are at stake in its rent control and rent stabilization system. Again and again, Silver was there to broker deals for his friends behind the scenes….

So long as New York pursues failed policies like rent control, it will open huge leeway for hidden favoritism. And then, sure as day, in will move the Sheldon Silver types.

The next Sheldon Silver, and the next is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was convicted on all seven criminal counts Monday in a corruption scheme that traded taxpayer cash and political favors for nearly $4 million in payoffs….The conviction of Silver — for decades one of the three most powerful politicians in the state — was a huge victory for anti-corruption crusading Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.

Appeal is expected. The scheme was one in which Silver helped direct state research funds to a Columbia University physician specializing in asbestos-related disease in exchange for the doctor’s referral of patients to the Silver law firm, which resulted in large legal fees to Silver for cases in which he did no work. Earlier on the charges against Silver here, here, here (and related).

I’ve been writing about Silver for more than twenty years, both here (tag or text search), at Point of Law, and elsewhere.

While machine politicians are common enough in New York, Silver (in Wayne Barrett’s words) “for two decades presented himself as the personally devout, politically principled leader of the most progressive slice of New York political life.” Whatever his relations with other Democratic interest groups, Silver always put trial lawyers first.

Jury convicts Sheldon Silver on all charges in corruption trial is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Politics roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“It’s impossible, absolutely impossible,” argued defense lawyer Steven Molo, “for a member of the Assembly to … do the job that a person in the Assembly does and not have some sort of conflict of interest.

“That may make you uncomfortable,” he added, “but that is the system New York has chosen, and it is not a crime.”

Dr. Robert Taub testifies in Sheldon Silver trial is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system