The Background
On Febrary 27, 2020 I attended an arbitration at the Beis Din of America (Beis Din is a Rabbinical court). The issue at hand related to my ex-wife and some custody issues. She hired Zaki Tamir to represent her and I came by myself. Because I was bringing the case I got to speak first first and presented my evidence. When I was done it became their turn to talk. One of the first sentences out of Zaki’s mouth was “I don’t wish to defame the plaintiff but…“ after which he immediately launched into a hyperbolic rant. He made such absurdly false statements about me that my ex-wife - his client - felt the need to come to my defense and verbally correct him on numerous occasions (“no, that didn’t happen” and “he never did that”). Zaki also had a very hard time doing the math required to figure out parenting schedules; the judges had to explain to him on a few occassions how how many weeks are in a month or year and help him do the math required to add up parenting days. And that’s all before the crazy started!
It’s All About the Benjamins
On January 26th, 2020, just about a month before a month before our hearing, Zaki Tamir called me in an effort to negotiate before going to arbitration. The conversation started off ok, we discussed my claims and what I was hoping to achieve by arbitration. I explained my concerns which all centered around my children, their education, their safety, and their general wellbeing. Then Zaki asked me “is this about money?” which I thought odd since I had just explained what my concerns were but I replied that “no, this isn’t about money.” He seemingly couldn’t wrap his head around the idea that my concern for my children wasn’t somehow financially motivated and kept asking questions about money! “How much do you pay in child support?” was his next question to which I replied “If you want the answer to that you can look in the agreement.” He asked me why I refused to answer the question and I replied that “It’s not relevant to this discussion! You asked me what my claims are and I told you and you’re trying to make this about money and I’m telling you it’s not about money.”
Fast forward to the hearing itself. He actually told this story to the judges. He expressed his exasperation that when he had asked me if it was about money I told him it wasn’t. He seemed to think that this behavior was so abnormal that it would somehow reflect poorly on me. Additionally, at one point one of the judges said he wanted to determine the cost a certain action by my ex-wife incurred on the children and immediately Zaki perked up. He leaned forward and in a fast, forcefull manner interrupted the judge asking “Cost? What cost? What cost are you talking about?” He didn’t seem to understand that cost isn’t always financial.
When I Googled Zaki Tamir I found this article on Pix11 news site that shows a similar focus on money to the exclusion of morals. The article alleges that Zaki Tamir promised the parents of a girl who died tragically that he would set up a charity in their daughter’s name and would make sure they raised millions of dollars. The article states that Zaki told the parents he expected a 10% share of all the earnings despite being paid for his work establishing the charity itself and that he found a way to bill for all kinds of miscellaneous charges
They said they were on the way to a web show Clark Pena hosts weekly, when Zaki Tamir informed them he was going, too. Tamir later charged the parents $1,680 for a board meeting and what he called a ‘promo taping’ that day with Pena.
Breaking Protocol
One of the issues we were arbitrating had to do my kids’ school. My youngest son is very small for his age and had been bullied for years. The school hadn’t done anything meaningful to help and though I had asked numerous times over the previous couple years to put my son in another school I was prevented contractually from doing this without my ex-wife’s consent which she continued to withold. As I was explaining all this to the judges Zaki turned to me and interrupted, yelling “So act like a man and deal with it - talk to the parents, talk to the school, and just handle it like a normal person!”. Protocol dictates that he not interrupt me and that he shouldn’t address me, rather he should only address the judges. But protocol also dictates that he not yell. Especially as an attorney I would expect him to abide by these rules but I think he just couldn’t control himself (that same lack of control would come out more forcefully just a little later). Of course I explained to the judges that I had both spoken to the parents of the bully as well as to the school on numerous occassions without any meaningful results. But now I was upset with Zaki - it was enough that he had lied numerous times already but how dare he personally attack me about my son’s bully. How dare he insinuate that my son’s bullying was my fault when I’ve worked so hard for years to put an end to it!
Zaki’s Physical Threat
There was a little break for lunch and then he asked to speak to his client (my ex-wife) in private. We waited outside for perhaps 30 minutes and then he opened the door to let us know we were all permitted back in the room. We filtered in slowly and so I was sitting down for a couple minutes before the judges entered. I was upset at him for his ouburst before the break and as I took my seat I made a comment like “oh I left my wallet in here the whole time, should I be nervous that money is missing?” Zaki snapped back “if anything there would be more money in there now than before”. I replied “I’m not sure about that, I know some people who consider you a thief for your handling of that American Express case” (see The Big Banks Lawsuit for more info on that)
That comment sent him through the roof. I mean he went absolutely ballistic. Zaki Tamir stood up and, with crazed eyes and a bright red face, started screaming at me. He called me an animal. He yelled out, “I’m a man and I’m not afraid of you”. He screamed that he “will deal with [me] anywhere [I] want”. He said that last part a few times, usually prefacing with “I’m a man” or “I’m not intimidated by you”. (Given this and his previous outburst that also mentioned being a man, it became clear to me that Zaki has some insecurities about his masculinity.) He told me “I’ll take you right here, right now!” Standing up as he was, only feet away from where I sat, he seemed moments away from hitting me. In retrospect, I kind of wish he had.
While he was screaming and threatening me I took out my phone and pressed record. The moment I turned the phone towards him he sat down and gained a semblence of composure. He may be a hot-head but I guess he has some control.
The Recording
My recording captured him just as he sat down and pulled his chair in. Visibly shaken, he looked straight ahead with his back straight and clasped his hands together. I asked, “So you want to fight me, so I’m an animal, is that right? This is going on zakitamir.com by the way.” He turned to look look straight at me and the camera and replied, as calmly as he could, “very good, very good, very good, no problem”. He then turned backwards towards the open door which led into the hallway where the administator sits and where the judges were still conversing and said “I’m going to ask the Beis Din to please to stop to turn off recording over here… He’s also threatened now to put things on social media… I’m asking him to erase that, to uh to delete that to delete that that uh recording”. He was so upset he couldn’t speak properly.
The Aftermath
By then the judges had all entered the room and one of them requested I turn off the camera. I declined stating that “He told me I’m an animal and that he wants to go outside and fight, I would like him out of this room.”. One of the judges said we could discuss that but he would like me to stop recording and so I did. Then Zaki stated that he was unwilling to continue the proceedings until I deleted the video and so the judges asked me to delete it. At first I refused. After all, he had gone off the handle at very little provocation and physically threatened me. I told the judges that especially considering he doesn’t live far from me I was genuinely concerned for my safety and I wanted to retain evidence. Eventually the judges and I spoke privately and they convinced me to delete the video since we were so close to an agreement it would be a shame to let this sidetrack everything.
Zaki Threatens Legal Action
After I deleted the video we continued the hearing. As we were putting the final touches on the document he asked that a provision be added to it that I not be allowed to communicate with or about him. Of course I didn’t accept that clause and I reiterated that I would definitely be posting this information everywhere I could. He then threatened that if I posted this he would file an order of protection and take me to court. (he later claimed to a New York Bar ethics investigator that the Beth Din of America suggested an order of protection, a claim they denied. More info on the ethics investigation page) My response was as an attorney he should know it’s perfectly legal for me to post accurate information about him even if it’s not flattering. And sure enough, here we are.
The Video is Reborn
That evening, after returning home from the arbitration, I spoke to a close friend on the phone. I recounted the highlights of the hearing and lamented having deleted the video. He asked why I don’t just go to my deleted files folder and undelete it. Now he has an Android phone and I have an iPhone and so I explained that Android has a whole filesystem you can access but I wasn’t sure there was a way to do that on iPhone - there’s no Recycling Bin. But he insisted there must be a way and so I Googled and found out there is. I was able to undelete the video!
The Lady Doth Protest Too Much
Zaki’s outburst did bring to mind that call I had with him a month before. During that call he spent a few minutes talking about his wife. I suppose since we were discussing a disagreement between myself and my ex-wife he thought it made sense to mention the issues he has with his wife but I found it to be incredibly odd and inappropriate. Zaki told me there’s a lot of things his wife does that he doesn’t like and that he knows he could do better. He mentioned that sometimes he goes away and his wife cannot handle things properly when he’s not there. I came away from that conversation thinking they must not have a very good relationship. But after experiencing his outbursts directed at me and after seeing the rage in his face and violence in his eyes I thought back to that conversation where he disparaged his wife and I wondered what her side of the story might be.
Bar Complaint
Shortly after the hearing I submitted a complaint to the New York Bar. This was just around the time that Covid-19 was breaking out in New York. Everyone had better things to worry about and I didn’t hear back for a few months. When I did hear back I was given a docket number (2020.0608) and was provided with Zaki’s rebuttal of my claims. See Ethics Investigation to read more about that.