Tag Archive for: Department of Lawyer Regulation

Last Minute Check List before Appearing Before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners for an Investigative Hearing

Character and fitness hearings before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners are becoming increasingly common. No two hearings are the same, however the Board is going to weigh the new or further evidence you present at the investigative hearing with the elements listed in Florida Bar Admission Rule 3-12 “Determination of Present Character” during all hearings. If you are unrepresented, and the trend over the last several years is to hire representation for this hearing, carefully examine and consider the rules before appearing.

3-12 Determination of Present Character. The board must determine whether the applicant or registrant has provided satisfactory evidence of good moral character. The following factors, among others, will be considered in assigning weight and significance to prior conduct:
(a) age at the time of the conduct;
(b) recency of the conduct;
(c) reliability of the information concerning the conduct;
(d) seriousness of the conduct;
(e) factors underlying the conduct;
(f) cumulative effect of the conduct or information;
(g) evidence of rehabilitation;
(h) positive social contributions since the conduct;
(i) candor in the admissions process; and,
(j) materiality of any omissions or misrepresentations.
Upon reading these elements what documents can you show the Board that will highlight each and every element under 3-12.  Remember it is a weighing test so the Board is already aware of the bad conduct it is now your responsibility to mitigate or outweigh the bad conduct with good conduct as outlined by 3-12.
For a free consultation regarding your upcoming investigative, formal or rehabilitative hearing before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners call (888) 760-6552 to speak to a Florida Bar Defense Lawyer now.

Elements of Rehabilitation in a Formal Hearing

 If Specifications have been filed by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners and you have to attend a formal hearing before the Board, you may want to consider pleading “rehabilitation” as an affirmative defense. This is the only affirmative defense that must specifically be plead in your Answer, or else that defense is waived and you may not be permitted to put on evidence of rehabilitation at your formal hearing. In considering what to do to effectively establish rehabilitation, Florida Bar Rule 3-13 codifies the “elements of rehabilitation”.

3-13 Elements of Rehabilitation.
 
Any applicant or registrant who affirmatively asserts rehabilitation from prior conduct that adversely reflects on the person’s character and fitness for admission to the bar must produce clear and convincing evidence of rehabilitation including, but not limited to, the following elements:
(a) strict compliance with the specific conditions of any disciplinary, judicial, administrative, or other order, where applicable;
(b) unimpeachable character and moral standing in the community;
(c) good reputation for professional ability, where applicable;
(d) lack of malice and ill feeling toward those who, by duty, were compelled to bring about the disciplinary, judicial, administrative, or other proceeding;
(e) personal assurances, supported by corroborating evidence, of a desire and intention to conduct one’s self in an exemplary fashion in the future;
(f) restitution of funds or property, where applicable; and,
(g) positive action showing rehabilitation by occupation, religion, or community or civic service. Merely showing that an individual is now living as and doing those things he or she should have done throughout life, although necessary to prove rehabilitation, does not prove that the individual has undertaken a useful and constructive place in society. The requirement of positive action is appropriate for applicants for admission to The Florida Bar because service to one’s community is an implied obligation by members of The Florida Bar.
Florida Bar Defense Lawyer, Lars Soreide, is available to represent you at an investigative or formal character and fitness hearing before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners. Call 888-760-6552 for a free consultation or visit https://www.floridabarhearing.com.

The Florida Supreme Court Summaries of Orders Issued between May 21– June 28, 2012

On The Florida Bar’s website, it was announced that the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders, has disciplined 22 attorneys, disbarring 10, and suspending eight. Some of the attorneys received more than one form of discipline. Three of the attorneys were placed on probation; four attorneys were publicly reprimanded.

As an official arm of the Florida Supreme Court, The Florida Bar and its Department of Lawyer Regulation are charged with administering a statewide disciplinary system to enforce Supreme Court rules of professional conduct for the 93,000-plus lawyers admitted to practice law in Florida. (This information was obtained on the Florida Bar website.)

Lars Soreide, of Soreide Law Group, PLLC, will represent those seeking admittance to the Florida Bar, and existing lawyers, for both Investigative Hearings and Formal Hearings in front of The Florida Bar. For more information about our services please call for a free consultaion: (888) 760-6552 or visit: www.floridabarhearing.com.

Can Undocumented Immigrant Be Accepted to Florida Bar?

In an April 15, 2012, article from South Florida’s Sun Sentinel, Rafael A. Olmeda writes that there is now a question of whether or not an immigrant without a green card get a Florida Bar card?

The aspiring lawyer, Jose Godinez-Samperio, 25, a Tampa-area resident, is hoping the answer is yes. A native of Mexico who entered the United States legally with his parents 16 years ago on a tourist visa, Godinez-Samperio is a graduate of the FSUCollege of Law, the valedictorian of the Armwood High School class of 2004, an Eagle Scout — and an undocumented immigrant. The last quality may keep him from achieving his dream.

Olmeda writes that the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, which grants membership to the Bar, has asked the state Supreme Court to determine whether it can accept someone who is not in the country legally. The Supreme Court flagged the case as “high profile” last week.

Tom Fitton, president of the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, said, “He can’t practice as a lawyer,” Fitton said. “He is not legally able to work in the United States. … It seems to me that it would be an absurdity to give him a Bar card at this point.”

The Sun Sentinel article adds that similar applications are pending for students in California and New York. But Godinez-Samperio, who once described himself as “undocumented, unapologetic and unafraid,” has influential allies who believe his immigration status should not keep him from getting a license to practice law, even though federal statutes would forbid him using that license to earn a living.

Godinez-Samperio has been candid about his status at every opportunity, disclosing it on college and law school applications (his application to law school included an essay titled “The Consequences of my Criminal Childhood,” although being in the country illegally is a civil infraction, not a crime).

Immigration advocates have lobbied Congress to pass the Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented children who were brought to this country by their parents and raised in the United States. Congress has yet to pass such a law.

The Board of Bar Examiners began requiring exam-takers to submit proof of immigration status in 2008, but waived that policy for Godinez-Samperio, who disclosed his status and argued that documentation was not required as a rule for admission to the Bar.

There’s no way of knowing whether any undocumented immigrant was accepted before 2008, and Godinez-Samperio is the first to apply for membership since. Some have suggested Godinez-Samperio can practice law in Florida if he takes on cases pro-bono.

Olmeda concludes his article in saying that Godinez-Samperio, who declined to be interviewed for the Sun Sentinel article, also has the support of his local congresswoman. U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, wrote in a letter to the Supreme Court that taxpayers are already investing time and money by educating undocumented students during and after high school. “To deny these students the opportunity to become doctors or lawyers or practice another profession is to deny the state of Florida and all of our neighbors an educated and talented workforce,” she wrote.

Attorney Lars K. Soreide, of Soreide Law Group, PLLC, represents those seeking admittance to the Florida Bar, and existing lawyers, for both Investigative Hearings and Formal Hearings in front of the Florida Bar. For more information about our services please call (888) 760-6552 or visit: www.floridabarhearing.com.

FLORIDA’S SUPREME COURT DISCIPLINES 31 ATTORNEYS IN JANUARY

The following information was obtained on The Florida Bar’s website:

The Florida Bar, the state’s guardian for the integrity of the legal profession, announces that the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 31 attorneys, disbarring 12 and suspending 15. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline. One attorney was placed on probation; four attorneys were publicly reprimanded and two attorneys were ordered to pay restitution.

As an official arm of the Florida Supreme Court, The Florida Bar and its Department of Lawyer Regulation are charged with administering a statewide disciplinary system to enforce Supreme Court rules of professional conduct for the 93,000-plus lawyers admitted to practice law in Florida. Since Aug. 1, 2007, case files have been posted to attorneys’ individual Florida Bar profiles and may be reviewed at and/or downloaded from The Florida Bar’s website.

This ends the information obtained from The Florida Bar’s website.

Attorney Lars Soreide, of Soreide Law Group, PLLC, represents those seeking admittance to the Florida Bar, and existing lawyers, for both Investigative Hearings and Formal Hearings in front of the Florida Bar. For more information about our services please call call (888) 760-6552 or visit: www.floridabarhearing.com.

FLORIDA SUPREME COURT DISCIPLINES 16 ATTORNEYS

Summary of orders issued July 14 – Aug. 30, 2011 posted on The Florida Bar’s website

The Florida Bar, the state’s guardian for the integrity of the legal profession, announces that the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 16 attorneys, disbarring seven and suspending six. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline. Two attorneys were placed on probation; two attorneys were publicly reprimanded. One attorney was ordered to pay restitution.

Court orders are not final until time expires to file a rehearing motion and, if filed, determined. The filing of such a motion does not alter the effective date of the discipline. Disbarred lawyers may not re-apply for admission for five years. They are required to go through an extensive process that rejects many who apply. It includes a rigorous background check and retaking the bar exam.

As an official arm of the Florida Supreme Court, The Florida Bar and its Department of Lawyer Regulation are charged with administering a statewide disciplinary system to enforce Supreme Court rules of professional conduct for the 90,000-plus lawyers admitted to practice law in Florida.

This information appeared on The Florida Bar’s website.

Attorney Lars Soreide, of Soreide Law Group, PLLC, represents those seeking admittance to the Florida Bar, and existing lawyers, for both Investigative Hearings and Formal Hearings in front of the Florida Bar. For more information about our services please call call (888) 760-6552 or visit: www.floridabarhearing.com.

The State of Florida’s SUPREME COURT DISCIPLINES 12 ATTORNEYS

On The Florida Bar’s website, June 30th., 2011, that The Florida Bar, the state’s guardian for the integrity of the legal profession, announced the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 12 attorneys, disbarring four and suspending five. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline. Three attorneys were placed on probation; three attorneys were publicly reprimanded.

The Florida Bar article goes on to say that as an official arm of the Florida Supreme Court, The Florida Bar and its Department of Lawyer Regulation are charged with administering a statewide disciplinary system to enforce Supreme Court rules of professional conduct for the 90,000-plus lawyers admitted to practice law in Florida. Since Aug. 1, 2007, case files have been posted to attorneys’ individual Florida Bar profiles and may be reviewed at and/or downloaded from The Florida Bar’s website.

Court orders are not final until time expires to file a rehearing motion and, if filed, determined. The filing of such a motion does not alter the effective date of the discipline. Disbarred lawyers may not re-apply for admission for five years. They are required to go through an extensive process that rejects many who apply. It includes a rigorous background check and retaking the bar exam. Historically, fewer than 5 percent of disbarred lawyers seek readmission.

This information was obtained on The Florid Bar’s website.

Attorney Lars Soreide, of Soreide Law Group, PLLC,  represents those seeking admittance to the Florida Bar, and existing lawyers, for both investigative hearings and formal hearings in front of the Florida Bar. For more information about our services please visit: www.floridabarhearing.com , or call (888) 760-6552 to speak to an attorney.

Law Schools Are Getting Practical

In a Wall Street Journal article by Patrick Lee, he writes that looking to attract employers’ attention, some law schools are throwing out decades of tradition by replacing textbook courses with classes that teach more practical skills.

Lee says that Indiana University Maurer School of Law started teaching project management this year and also offers a course on so-called emotional intelligence. The class has no textbook and instead uses personality assessments and peer reviews to develop students’ interpersonal skills.

Additionally, New York Law School hired 15 new faculty members over the past two years, many directly from the ranks of working lawyers, to teach skills in negotiation, counseling and fact investigation. The school says it normally hires one or two new faculty a year, and usually those focused on legal research.

A few elite players also are making adjustments. Harvard Law School last year launched a problem-solving class for first-year students, and Stanford Law School is considering making a full-time clinical course—which entails several 40-hour plus weeks of actual case work—a graduation requirement.

Washington and Lee University School of Law completely rebuilt its third-year curriculum in 2009, swapping out lectures and Socratic-style seminars for case-based simulations run by practicing lawyers.

“Law firms are saying, ‘You’re sending us peoplewho are not in a position to do anything useful for clients.’ This is a first effort to try and fix that,” says Larry Kramer, the law dean at Stanford.

LAWSCHOOLS

These moves come amid a prolonged downturn in the legal job market. Only about one-quarter of last year’s graduating law-school classes—down from 33% in 2009—snagged positions with big law firms, according to the National Association for Law Placement, an organization that collects employment data.

Lee goes on to say that in past years, a law firm could bill clients for a new lawyer’s work, even if that time were spent getting the novice up to speed. During the recession, corporate clients started limiting the number of hours a firm could charge and made it a policy not to pay for first-year associates.

“This is a push from clients saying, ‘Why are we going to pay this kind of money? We don’t want to train the new lawyers,'” says Jennifer Queen.

There are also fewer jobs to go around at a time when lawyers are in excess. In 2010, there were more than twice as many people—about 54,000—who passed the bar exam than there were legal job openings in the U.S., according to an analysis by consultants at Economic Modeling Specialists Inc.

Most law schools’ offerings cover a wide range of topics, but clinical placements—often students’ first chance for a taste of real law work—are usually optional and far fewer in number than theory-based courses.

“Medical students learn from real doctors in a real hospital during their education. In law, we’re learning from a bunch of academics who have deliberately elected not to pursue law as a profession…there’s such a disconnect,” says BeiBei Que, a 2007 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law. Ms. Que, who runs a boutique law firm that helps tech start-ups navigate legal issues, says she had to pick up practical skills—networking, soliciting clients, forming a business plan—on her own.

Law schools have generally lagged behind other, more real-world oriented institutions like business schools in piloting practical improvements, as law professors tend to focus on scholarly work, says Bill Henderson, a professor at Maurer. And curriculum change tends to “move like a glacier,” he adds.

The WSJ article points out that many remain skeptical that new approaches to education will have a meaningful impact on the ability of lawyers to land jobs. “It could enhance the reputation of the law school…as places that will produce new lawyers who have practical skills,” says Timothy Lloyd, a partner at Hogan Lovells. “As to the particular student when I’m interviewing them? It doesn’t make much of a difference.”

Other recruiters say schools that have overhauled programs need to do a better job of promoting the changes to employers in order to see an impact.

Attorney Lars Soreide of Soreide Law Group, PLLC,  represents those seeking admittance to the Florida Bar, and existing lawyers, for both investigative hearings and formal hearings in front of the Florida Bar. For more information about our services please visit: www.floridabarhearing.com or call (888) 760-6552.

The FLORIDA SUPREME COURT DISCIPLINES 25 ATTORNEYS

On May 31, 2011, it was announced on The Florida Bar’s website that The Florida Bar, the state’s guardian for the integrity of the legal profession, the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 25 attorneys, disbarring five and suspending 13. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline. One attorney was placed on probation; seven attorneys were publicly reprimanded. Four attorneys were ordered to pay restitution.

It was noted that as an official arm of the Florida Supreme Court, The Florida Bar and its Department of Lawyer Regulation are charged with administering a statewide disciplinary system to enforce Supreme Court rules of professional conduct for the 90,000-plus lawyers admitted to practice law in Florida. Since Aug. 1, 2007, case files have been posted to attorneys’ individual Florida Bar profiles and may be reviewed at and/or downloaded from The Florida Bar’s website.

The court orders are not final until time expires to file a rehearing motion and, if filed, determined. The filing of such a motion does not alter the effective date of the discipline. Disbarred lawyers may not re-apply for admission for five years. They are required to go through an extensive process that rejects many who apply. It includes a rigorous background check and retaking the bar exam. Historically, fewer than 5 percent of disbarred lawyers seek readmission.

The Soreide Law Group, PLLC,  represents those seeking admittance to the Florida Bar, and existing lawyers, for both investigative hearings and formal hearings in front of the Florida Bar. For more information about our services please visit: www.floridabarhearing.com or call (888) 760-6552.

Florida Lawyers Assistance and Law Students

The Florida Lawyers Assistance website is a valuable tool for those lawyers and law students with drug, alcohol or psycholocial problems and criminal justice issues.  The following information appears on their website:

While not an agency of the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, FLA (Florida Lawyers Assistance) has developed a cooperative relationship with the staff of that agency and its members. That relationship includes education of board members regarding chemical and psychological impairments, treatments for the same, development of monitoring and probation protocols which permit admission of applicants with a history of impairment, orientation presentations at the various law schools, and a presentation by a Board member at the annual FLA Workshop in July.

The FLA article goes on to say that as a result of its acceptance of chemical and psychological impairments as treatable illnesses, the Board was one of the first in the U.S. to permit conditional admissions of applicants with a history of chemical dependency, psychiatric diagnoses, or criminal justice issues resulting from such conditions. The term “conditional admission” has no effect on an attorney’s scope of practice or authority, but only on the probationary terms with which the lawyer must comply for the period set by the Board. Such conditions may include attendance at a specified number of lawyer support or 12 Step meetings, monitoring by another attorney or mental health practitioner, and random urinalysis testing. The order of conditional admission is confidential, and conditional admittees are listed as “members in good standing” upon admission to The Florida Bar.

The FLA reminds us that the key to obtaining a recommendation for conditional admission if a history of chemical or psychological impairment exists is absolute honesty, candor, and completeness when preparing and filing the application for admission, together with a demonstration that the prior condition is being adequately addressed and treated (a relationship with FLA can be crucial in this regard). The Board is attempting to determine who you are based on your personal history, your undergraduate and law school experiences, and your preparation of the application. Demonstrating your present candor and honesty by providing everything on your application, including incidents about which you are embarrassed, or believe may jeopardize your chance of admission, or believe the Board will not discover, provides you with the best chance that a recommendation for a conditional admission will be authorized by the Board. Leaving something off the application in the hope the Board will not discover it (which it is guaranteed they will) makes almost certain that the recommendation will be against admission.

Applicants should be aware that the Florida Board of Bar Examiners has adopted a new policy of researching certain applicant’s social sites (Facebook, MySpace, etc.).

The Soreide Law Group, PLLC,  represents those seeking admittance to the Florida Bar, and existing lawyers, for both investigative hearings and formal hearings in front of the Florida Bar. For more information about our services please visit: www.floridabarhearing.com or call (888) 760-6552.