Walter Levi Fields

I want to warn the community about Walter Fields, a lawyer who represents children in court in the Bronx. His nonprofit had their contract taken away so they can no longer represent kids, and he was taken off the 18b panel of independent free attorneys, but he is still trying to pick up new cases. Al...legedly he is not a good lawyer - he doesn't show up for court appearances, he doesn't do work on cases, and his clients sit in detention for months and years on end. Also, there have been allegations that he is inappropriate with his young clients. Please do not leave him alone with your children.

To be as fair as possible to him, he's an 18b lawyer. His vouchers are signed by the very judges he practices in front of and he is reappointed yearly by a panel of judges. I'll leave it to the reader to draw his/her own inference. However... Child Protective Services slammed me with some nasty, h...yper inflated charges. I was accused of sexually abusing my then eight year old child. Walter F. was my assigned lawyer. The first words out of his mouth were, "[t]hese are very serious charges. They could lead to criminal charges. You've got a long haul ahead of you." He then told me I was entitled to a hearing I wasn''t entitled to. The charges against me WERE serious. I could understand had Walter F. said to me, "these are very serious charges. They could lead to criminal charges. What do you have to say; what is your side of the story?" He didn't possess enough professional detachment to at least ask me what I had to say, what was my side of the story. Assuming for the sake of argument everything they said was true, it still didn't meet the legal definition of sexual abuse per case, Family, and Penal Law. I wasn't entitled to a 1028 hearing because my child was paroled to his mother. My case took seven months to resolve (with a lawyer that knew what he was doing), the blink of an eye in Family Court time. I am not an angry litigant that lost and is looking for revenge. The Child Advocacy Center found no evidence in my son of physical abuse or physical contact, the District Attorney found no reason to file criminal against me, and in front of my lawyer, the psychologist charged with validating abuse concluded none occurred. My case was ACDed out, and I managed to get my record with the State Central Registry amended to unfounded and sealed. Someone needs to tell Walter F. he is dealing with a human being and not a sausage to be processed by the Family Court meat grinder. Someone needs to tell Walter F. he is a defense lawyer, and while it is not his job to fill the heads of his clients with visions of sugar plum fairies or cotton candy delusions, it IS his job to defend his clients. Which means familiarizing yourself with Article 10 case law, understanding that allegations are allegations and the accused is entitled to a presumption of innocence, and possessing enough professional detachment and neutrality to ask your client what happened BEFORE passing judgment.