
Astor lawyer disbarred
The shady lawyer who helped Brooke Astor’s son swindle her is now a shady ex-lawyer.
The state Appellate Division officially disbarred Francis Morrissey yesterday, less than two months after he was sentenced to one to three years in prison for scheming to defraud the philanthropist and forging her signature on a will.
Morrissey had asked that the ruling be put off pending appeal of his conviction. The five-judge panel declined.
Instead, its three-page ruling read, in part: “With the assistance of her son, Anthony Marshall, [Morrissey] looted Brooke Astor’s estate during the period from approximately 2001 to 2007, when her mental capacity was diminished.”
The panel ordered his “name stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors at law,” retroactive to Oct. 8, 2009, the day he was convicted.

