An appeals court in Brooklyn has disbarred an attorney who was convicted of criminal contempt for forging the signature of a Family Court judge during a post-divorce proceeding against her ex-husband.
A unanimous panel of the Appellate Division, 2nd Department, said that it could not offer a lesser sentence for the attorney, Mary K. Henning, despite her otherwise unblemished record.
"Notwithstanding the mitigation advanced by the respondent, inasmuch as her misconduct goes to the heart of the judicial system, the respondent is disbarred," the court wrote in Matter of Henning, 2004-06838.
Henning denies that she forged the signature, despite the findings of a Supreme Court justice and the 2nd Department, according to a phone message from her attorney, Michael G. Santangelo. He said she had moved to Massachusetts and is no longer practicing law.