Real estate Lawyer In New York

[James Rodriguez]

So I have only invested in CA and we are not required to use a real estate Lawyer. I am branching out and buying a property in NY where a Lawyer is required. I just got my offer accepted on a property in New York and in the contract it asks that I pay the entire down payment directly to the lawyer (not to escrow). Is this standard? Thanks so much for any feed back, as I'm not local I just want to make sure someone isn't going to be walking away with the deposit.