A tight cadre of 25 New York City attorneys were handed hundreds of cushy court appointments by a powerful Brooklyn judge — as they donated to his wife’s political campaign committee, The Post has learned.

Veteran Judge Lawrence Knipel doled out the nearly 900 “fiduciary appointments” to a tiny clique of 25 lawyers from 2022 until 2024, all of whom had chipped in $25,000 total to the judge’s wife, a Brooklyn Democratic Party district leader, records show.

Experts said it could clash with ethics rules set up over two decades ago by a reforming former chief judge who sought to restore integrity to the appointments process after a series of stories highlighting rampant patronage, cronyism and favoritism.

Judges would be wise “to spread out appointments to a variety of qualified lawyers,” retired first department judge David Saxe told The Post.

Judge Lawrence Knipel assigned 881 fiduciary court appointments from 2022 until 2024 to a tiny clique of 25 people — who also donated to his wife’s political campaign committee. NYSBA

But of the 1,800 fiduciary appointments Knipel made over the two-year period, nearly half, 881, were to the group of 25 with ties to his wife Lori Knipel’s political campaign committee, whose own records show a history of eyebrow-raising spending, The Post previously reported.

One of those donors made over $55,000 from a single “receivership” appointment in 2023 — one of 25 such posts he was granted by the judge that year.

Another attorney received over 150 fiduciary appointments between 2022 and last year, including dozens of potentially lucrative cases managing real estate properties in default. 

Attorneys can net fees ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars when assigned fiduciary duties, a sweet gig that essentially involves overseeing assets in court cases, according to records.

Knipel plans to retire from the bench at the end of this month after more than 30 years as a judge. Paul Martinka

Watchdogs and former jurists agreed that the appointments are bad optics for Knipel, who is planning on retiring at the end of the month after more than three decades on the bench.

State judicial ethics rules forbid “nepotism and favoritism,” and even the mere “appearance of impropriety.”

“Ethics rules exist for a reason: to ensure that judicial appointments are based on merit, not political connections or financial interests,” said Grace Rauh, executive director of the good government group Citizen’s Union.

“When those boundaries are blurred, it undermines the integrity of our courts.”

Knipel has served as a judge since 1991, returning to his foreclosure court late last year. Spencer A. Burnett

Knipel — who has served as a New York City judge since 1991– became an administrative judge in Kings County in 2013 and stepped down from that post late last year to return to his foreclosure court.

“I don’t know or care who contributed to any campaign committee, but considering that until very recently I carried a calendar of approximately twenty thousand cases, I am not surprised that many of the lawyers contributed to many different campaign committees,” Knipel said in an email, when asked for comment.

Knipel said he made appointments “only as one of the assigned Foreclosure part Judges,” not as an administrative judge, and maintained all assignments were made from a list approved by the State Office of Court Administration.

The attorneys donated nearly $25,000 to the judge’s wife, Lori Knipel, a longtime district leader in Brooklyn. ZUMAPRESS.com

He did not respond to a question about why his appointments — including referees, receivers, property managers and more — suddenly began increasing in 2022, to the staggering 1,800, with 600 fiduciary assignments handed out in 2023 alone.

Prior years show Knipel dishing out far fewer appointments, with only 527 total between 2012 and 2021, according to records.

Receivers — basically temporary landlords — can collect huge sums based on a slice of the total rents collected. Other jobs, like referee appointments, result in much smaller fees ranging from $350 to $1,500. 

“Hardly lucrative,” Knipel called the majority of his appointments.

But those can add up, especially for Queens attorney Helmut Borchert, who received 39 referee appointments in 2023 — landing him over $21,000 in fees, with 26 of the cases resolved so far.

Borchert received 105 appointments between 2022 and 2024, while his firm, Borchert & Laspina, netted a total of 161 appointments during that same time, records show.

“Judges have significant discretion in appointing guardians, receivers, conservators and other fiduciaries,” said Robert Tembeckjian, head of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. New York State Court Of Appeals

A review of contributions reveals that the firm and the two named partners individually donated a total of $9,200 to Lori Knipel’s political committee since 2010, records reveal.

Harry Horowitz, who is not an attorney and who passed away last spring, donated $900 to the judge’s wife. He was given 25 assignments in 2023 — all desirable receiver roles, and sometimes over the requests of the plaintiffs.  

Horowitz was paid $94,863 in fees from the eight resolved cases. One of the cases, involving three foreclosed buildings in Williamsburg and Bushwick, netted him a whopping $55,206. 

Another attorney, Michael D. Benjamin, netted 151 appointments over the same time frame, including over a dozen potentially lucrative receiver appointments.

He and members of his household listing the same address as him donated nearly $3,000 to Lori since 2013, with Benjamin himself donating $1,850 over six contributions. 

“Hardly lucrative,” Knipel called the majority of his appointments. Steven Hirsch

Benjamin was disbarred in 1994 on 15 sustained misconduct charges, blaming his “debilitating addiction to marihuana [sic]” for his conduct, according to a judicial order. In 2015, Benjamin was readmitted and resumed practicing law.  

The firm Borchert & Laspina, Benjamin and Horowitz got over 20% of all fiduciary appointments doled out by Knipel between 2022-24. 

None of the attorneys responded to messages seeking comment.

Knipel’s retirement at the end of the month means that any possible investigation by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct wouldn’t be able to reach any conclusive findings prior to the agency losing jurisdiction.

Chief Judge of New York, Judith Kaye, at a press conference about her report on the Commission of the Fiduciary Appointments in 2000. New York Post

But the commission has made referrals in the past to other ethics groups upon a judge leaving the bench, like the attorney grievance committee, which could examine whether Knipel’s conduct was above board. 

“Judges have significant discretion in appointing guardians, receivers, conservators and other fiduciaries,” said Robert Tembeckjian, head of the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct.

“While most do so responsibly, suspicions of favoritism are inevitable and sometimes true.”

Tembeckjian said that the SCJC has removed judges in the past over evidence of misconduct relating to fiduciary appointments.

Then-Chief Judge Judith Kaye issued a detailed report on fiduciary appointments more than two decades ago, saying that: “Simply put, the public must have faith that the courts operate free of favoritism and partiality.”

“Public confidence in the courts is put at risk when judicial appointments are based on considerations other than merit,” she said in 2000.

In 2001, Kaye established a commission examining judges who assigned attorneys potentially lucrative legal work based on political connections.

Kaye codified rules that appointments should only be made “on the basis of merit, without favoritism, nepotism, politics or other factors unrelated to the qualifications of the appointee or the requirements of the case.”