New York Consolidated Laws

N.Y. Judiciary Law § 493 (2026)

Attorneys forbidden to defend criminal prosecutions carried on by their partners, or formerly by themselves

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section NY-LEGnysenate.gov Justiaon Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

§ 493. Attorneys forbidden to defend criminal prosecutions carried on
by their partners, or formerly by themselves. An attorney, who directly
or indirectly advises in relation to, or aids or promotes the defense of
any action or proceeding in any court, the prosecution of which is
carried on, aided or promoted by a person as district attorney or other
public prosecutor, with whom such attorney is directly or indirectly
connected as a partner; or who, having himself prosecuted or in any
manner aided or promoted any action of proceeding in any court, as
district attorney or other public prosecutor, afterwards directly or
indirectly advises in relation to, or takes any part in, the defense
thereof, as attorney or otherwise; or who takes or receives any valuable
consideration from or on behalf of any defendant in any such action,
upon any understanding or agreement whatever, express or implied, having
relation to the defense thereof, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 2 cases, 2001–2003 · leading case: People v. Abar, 786 N.E.2d 1255 (NY 2003).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

People v. Abar, 786 N.E.2d 1255 (NY 2003). · cites it 24× “More importantly, the attorney's conduct in this case appears to violate Judiciary Law § 493, which establishes a per se rule against a former prosecutor defending the same person in the action he or she prosecuted.”

People v. Clevenger, 189 Misc. 2d 80 (N.Y. App. Term. 2001). “While an attorney employed in defense counsel’s firm had been previously assigned to driving while intoxicated prosecutions on the District Attorney’s staff, it appears that he was not assigned to defendant’s case, and it was not adequately set forth how, if at all, defendant’s…”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.