Celebrity lawyer Joe Tacopina is putting his money where his mouth is in a bitter legal fight against disgraced ex-NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik.
Tacopina on Thursday requested that Manhattan federal Chief Judge Loretta Preska – who’s been asked by the feds to review whether Kerik and his lawyer should be declared in contempt of court — privately review notes of confidential 2007 meetings Tacopina had with prosecutors in the hopes it will put to rest some of Kerik’s claims against Tacopina in a malpractice lawsuit.
Kerik alleges Tacopina violated attorney-client privileges by revealing information to the feds that Kerik believes ultimately landed him in the slammer.
Tacopina’s lawyer Judd Burstein in the letter to Preska said he hopes Kerik’s lawyer Tim Parlatore joins in asking her to review the meeting notes so that “we can move on to the key question of contempt.”
Parlatore later told The Post this is one of the rare times lately that Kerik and Tacopina’s camps agree on something. He said he not only welcomes Preska’s review of the confidential notes now under seal — but believes they should also be examined by two other Manhattan federal judges currently overseeing litigation involving ex-buddies Kerik and Tacopina.
The latest legal squabble comes two days after Assistant US attorneys Elliott Jacobson and Perry Carbone asked Preska to schedule a conference to decide whether Kerik and Parlatore violated a 2008 order by allegedly using information in the documents to juice up Kerik’s malpractice suit against Tacopina. If Preska finds Kerik and Parlatore in contempt of court, they would face jail, fines and other penalties.
Both prosecutors are questioning whether Kerik and Parlatore – while trying to make the suit against Tacopina more salacious — relied on the sealed records related to Kerik’s 2009 sentencing on federal tax-fraud charges and lying to the White House during his failed vetting for Homeland Security chief. Kerik spent three years in jail after copping a plea to those crimes.
Days after being sued, Tacopina in January slapped Kerik with a defamation suit claiming Kerik fed outrageous “lies” about him to the Daily News for a December “hit piece.” The Daily News was also sued initially by Tacopina, but it was later removed as a defendant.
Tacopina’s long list of A-list clients include shamed Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, whom he recently represented in a failed bid to get A-Rod’s Major League Baseball doping ban overturned.