Tag Archive for: Florida Bar Hearing

SUPREME COURT DISCIPLINES 27 ATTORNEYS

Summary of orders issued Jan. 4 – Feb. 3, 2011 from 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 27 attorneys, disbarring seven and suspending 15. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline. Two attorneys were placed on probation; five attorneys were publicly reprimanded. 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 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 five 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.

THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT DISCIPLINES EIGHT ATTORNEYS

Summary of orders issued Oct. 5 – Dec. 1, 2010

On The Florida Bar’s website, it was announced that The Florida Bar, the state’s guardian for the integrity of the legal profession, that the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined eight attorneys, disbarring one and suspending six. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline. One attorney was 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 The Florida Bar’s website.
These 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.

This information was obtained from The Florida Bar’s website.

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 Draw Suspicion in Foreclosure Mess

Recently a Palm Beach Post article by Christine Stapleton and Kimberly Miller stated that young Florida lawyers out of law school and looking for work,  found steady paychecks in burgeoning firms whose business is based on repossessing the American dream.

The article states that more than 260 attorneys work at four of Florida’s largest foreclosure firms, and 48 percent of them have been practicing law for less than three years, according to Florida Bar records obtained by The Palm Beach Post.

With this fall’s allegations of forged foreclosure documents, fraudulent notarizations and questionable affidavits submitted in tens of thousands of foreclosure cases, those nascent lawyers are now under a cloud of suspicion.

Some may face Florida Bar investigations that could end their careers, while homeowner advocates wonder whether the foreclosure crisis would have reached its state of disorder if it weren’t for legions of novice lawyers doing the legwork.

And as the state’s overwhelmed court system sorts through the foreclosure chaos, many of the attorneys who worked for the now deposed law firms have been hired at other large companies doing foreclosure work.

The Palm Beach Post stated that the Atlanta-based McCalla Raymer law firm, which handles foreclosures for mortgage giant Fannie Mae in Georgia, hopes to do the same in Florida. In November, as the firm began setting up shop in Orlando with 10 former attorneys of a diposed Florida firm, disgruntled homeowners in Georgia filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the firm, claiming it used forged documents to take their homes, often while they were in the midst of modifying their loans. This month four other Georgia homeowners – who are representing themselves – have filed similar lawsuits against McCalla Raymer.

The firm initially registered to do business in Florida as McCalla Raymer Florida LLC but dissolved that firm a month later and is now registered to do business in Florida as Stone, McGehee & Silver. The firm, which hired former Fannie Mae associate general counsel and foreclosure expert Susan Reid last month, has plans to expand throughout Florida, advertising for attorneys in Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Orlando. While at Fannie Mae, Reid worked with foreclosure attorneys in its retained attorney network, including those from an office that was diposed in Florida.

Still, the distribution of former attorneys from a diposed firm to other firms feels like an injustice to some home­owners in foreclosure.

In sworn statements taken by the state attorney general’s office, two former employees of a diposed Florida firm – a paralegal and a legal assistant – attest to wrongdoing at the firm that included hiding problem files from federal auditors, forging signatures and making up documents as staff struggled to keep up with a mounting volume of foreclosures.

Lack of experience could have led young lawyers to follow their employer’s lead, unaware they may be committing an offense, nonetheless lawyers share a large portion of blame in the foreclosure fracas.

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 SUPREME COURT DISCIPLINES 22 ATTORNEYS 10/28/10

On October 28, 2010, 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 22 attorneys, disbarring eight and suspending 12. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline. Two attorneys were publicly reprimanded and one was ordered to pay restitution.

As an official agency 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 88,000-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 five percent of disbarred lawyers seek readmission.
This information was obtained from The Florida Bar’s website.

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.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT NOVEMBER 11, 2010

Mr. Lars Soreide was invited back to speak at St. Thomas University School of Law’s Distinguished Speaker Series to discuss the growing problem of law applicants getting called in for investigative and formal hearings by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners for financial mismanagement. Topics discussed included: credit card debt, bankruptcy, foreclosure, short sales, student loans and over all financial responsibility. Strategies for formally documenting a record of rehabilitation and how to work with your creditors was also discussed. This was followed by a questions and answer session where applicants could ask questions with their specific concerns. For a more detailed explanation they were directed to contact him through his website www.FloridaBarHearing.com.

BAR APPLICANTS IN FINANCIAL TROUBLE

FINANCES CAN BECOME PROBLEMS FOR BAR APPLICANTS

          With increasing frequency I am representing more and more applicants in Florida Bar Investigative Hearings and Formal Hearings before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners with financial problems. These problems range from home foreclosure to unpaid credit card debt.  Applicants ask all the time,”How do I prepare for this hearing when I haven’t done anything to resolve any of these issues?”  Well, the fact of the matter is there are many things you can do. For instance,  it is up to the Florida Bar Applicant to establish a record of rehabilitation at the Investigative or Formal Hearing. One way that I advise my clients to establish financial rehabilitation, is to take a financial educational course. There are several that I find to be particularly helpful and accepted by the Board as establishing financial rehabilitation.  The classes have you set out a plan, which the Board appreciates, that shows how you are going to get out of debt and stay out of debt. If you are in the financial position to pay off debt and close out accounts, then I strongly suggest you do so and submit a newly amended financial affidavit reflecting your new plan.

            The Florida Board of Bar Examiners’ chief concern is that an Applicant isn’t going to turn their back on their creditors. Even if you pay $20 a month or any nominal amount you can afford toward your debt, it is more beneficial to you at your Bar Hearing because this acknowledges you owe the money and are working toward honoring your debts and not turning your back on your creditors. Why are they so concerned you may ask? Well, the answer to that question is simple, trust accounts. You will manage other people’s money as an attorney. If you can’t manage your own finances, don’t expect the Board to allow you to manage others.

            What if my home is in foreclosure or I am delinquent in my mortgage? The popular philosophy on this matter is completely opposite of that of the Florida Bar. Many people feel that in most instances it is financially irresponsible to continue to pay on a mortgage when the value of the house is underwater. The bank took a risk lending on the property just as you took a risk borrowing the money. It was an honest business transaction, with you on the one hand trying to make an investment in a property, and the bank on the other trying to make interest.  However, the Bar does not adopt this outlook and that is the only outlook you should be concerned with. Again, it goes straight to the core of financial responsibility. If you borrow money, you pay it back. If you can’t work out a new deal, then you at least need to stay in constant communication with your creditors and pay what you can. If you can’t pay anything, short sale the property. Also, put everything in writing, send letters so you have documented evidence at your hearing of this communication and work out plan.

            Do everything in your power to resolve all the financial issues before the hearing. Financial irresponsibility is one of the hardest bar hearings to defend because it is a problem today. If you committed a crime years ago, it is actually easier to defend because you have time on your side and it was an isolated incident, whereas with financial problems, as you sit before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, that problem is still on going. For more advice on Florida Bar Investigative and Formal Hearings you should speak with a lawyer experienced with these types of issues. For a free consultation as to how to prepare for your Florida Bar Investigative Hearing or Formal hearing call, Lars K. Soreide, Esq., with the Soreide Law Group, PLLC. We represent applicants throughout the state of Florida. Our main office is located in downtown Fort Lauderdale. www.FloridaBarHearing.com (888) 760-6552.

FLORIDA’S SUPREME COURT DISCIPLINES 18 ATTORNEYS 9/30/10

The Florida Bar, Florida’s guardian for the integrity of the legal profession, announces that the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 18 attorneys, disbarring six and suspending eight. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline. Four attorneys were publicly reprimanded and one was placed on probation. One attorney was also ordered to pay restitution.

As an official agency 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 88,000-plus lawyers admitted to practice law in Florida. Since Aug. 1, 2007, case files have been posted to attorneys’ individual Florida Bar profiles.

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 five percent of disbarred lawyers seek readmission.

This information was obtained from The Florida Bar’s website.

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’s LOMAS program going strong at 30

LOMAS helps Florida attorneys with all aspects of law practice management  

The Florida Bar’s Law Office Management Assistance Service is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year writes Mark Killian for The Florida Bar News. The LOMAS program provides a wide range of law practice management information, services, and products to Bar members.

“Many lawyers lack the business management skills necessary to manage their law offices properly or market their law practices effectively,” said Jerry Sullenberger, a LOMAS practice management advisor.

The dirctor of LOMAS, Judith Equels, said the majority of law schools still do not teach practice management skills and best practices, such as trust accounting compliance, calendar control, human resources management, risk and conflict avoidance, client relations, and technology management.

Of the 30-plus state, local, and provincial bars that now have practice management programs, LOMAS is considered the granddaddy of the concept since the 1980 roll-out by The Florida Bar of a program offering law office management assistance.

In addition to on-site consultations, and presenting dozens of seminars each year, LOMAS responds to thousands of telephone calls and e-mails from Bar members annually on topics such as establishing and maintaining a conflict-of-interest system; maintaining a trust account; effective client communication techniques; effective docket control and calendaring procedures; as well as basic information on how to establish and operate a solo practice, including technology advice.

Norman Vaughan-Birch, the Board of Governor’s liaison to the LOMAS Advisory Board, thinks more lawyers should take advantage of the low-cost resources LOMAS provides — especially young lawyers striking out on their own in this down economy.

“It’s how you balance your budget; it’s how you create trust accounts, some of the things that are pitfalls for young lawyers,” Vaughan-Birch said. “LOMAS has all kinds of programs for sole practitioners.”

And LOMAS is not just for solos. Vaughan-Birch, the managing partner of the 18-lawyer Kirk Pinkerton firm in Sarasota, brought LOMAS in a year ago to give his office the once-over. Vaughan-Birch wanted to know if the firm was adequately staffed, if their administrative procedures were adequate, their technology up to date, and if there were more efficient or smarter ways to conduct business.

“It’s like an annual physical: They poke you everywhere,” said Vaughan-Birch, adding the cost was “relatively inexpensive, certainly compared to any of the large consulting firms that would come in and basically tell you the same things.”

Equels said LOMAS doesn’t soft-pedal the issues and challenges identified during a private on-site consultation.

“We conduct an in-depth review of the strengths and weaknesses of your practice, focusing on recommendations that help lawyers manage risk, cut costs, and improve profitability,” Equels said. “Our goal is to provide lawyers with the law practice management knowledge and tools to implement policies, processes, and procedures that will make the office run more efficiently and effectively.”

Equels said often the lawyers are already aware of the issues, but need assistance in identifying and implementing solutions. She said each consultation is tailored to address specific issues within the practice and that, in every case, the managing attorneys set the parameters of the consultations.

Vaughan-Birch said having LOMAS check out your operations is “absolutely one of the best investments you can make.”

In the Beginning
The late Sam Smith, former president of the Bar, in a speech to the Board of Governors in 1978, said that the Bar should offer “an ounce of prevention that potentially prevents this costly pound of cure,” according to retired Judge Walter S. Crumbley, a past chair of the LOMAS Advisory Board.

“His comment came during consideration of the 1978 budget when the Bar was considering a request for additional prosecutors for the disciplinary arm of The Florida Bar,” Crumbley said.

“Out of this comment and later committee work came the idea to create a membership fees-supported service dedicated to educating the membership on how to run a practice in an economical and professional manner that, hopefully, would slow down the number of grievance cases filed with the Bar’s Lawyer Regulation Department.”

Tampa’s David Shear, president of the Bar in 1979, once said the creation of LOMAS was one of the proudest moments of his administration.

“I had a vision that this program would really benefit lawyers, their practices, and the system,” Shear said.

LOMAS began operations in 1980 with a focus on conducting educational programs and on-site law office consultations.

LOMAS now promotes effective management techniques for both lawyers and support staff in a manner flexible enough to respond to the immediate demands of today’s ever-changing law office environment.

LOMAS’ goals all involve the principal objective of assisting attorneys in improving the management of their practices, including:

• To investigate, accumulate, and evaluate practice management information and technologies.

• To publish and distribute information and techniques relating to practice management.

• To increase awareness of professional liability and risk management procedures.

• To anticipate trends and problems in law office management and to advise the Bar’s leadership.

The Future
Equels joined the LOMAS staff in January 2000 after a 20-year career as a legal administrator with both large and small firms and as a private management consultant. With the retirement of longtime LOMAS Director J.R. Phelps in 2009, Equels was promoted to director. The program also is supported by practice management advisor Sullenberger, who has decades of experience in not only law firm administration but also technology systems management and training programs.

“As an administrator and then as a private consultant, I would frequently encourage attorneys and administrators to contact the LOMAS program for help with practice management, office management, marketing, budgeting, and personnel issues,” Equels said. “I was always surprised to discover how few Florida Bar members knew about this terrific member service. Today, we just keep working hard, as former PMAs have done in the past, to get the word out to members about what LOMAS has to offer.” 

LOMAS enters its fourth decade, its practice management advisors continue to operate by the original program concept of being “the ounce of prevention that prevents a costly pound of cure.”

This information was obtained from The Florida Bar News.

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’S SUPREME COURT DISCIPLINES 21 ATTORNEYS 8/31/10

It was announced on Aug. 31, 2010, on The Florida Bar’s websited that The Florida Bar, the state’s guardian for the integrity of the legal profession, that the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 21 attorneys, disbarring seven and suspending 11. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline. Three attorneys were publicly reprimanded and one was placed on probation. Two were ordered to pay restitution.

As an official agency 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 88,000-plus lawyers admitted to practice law in Florida. Since Aug. 1, 2007, case files have been posted to attorneys’ individual Florida Bar profiles.

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 five percent of disbarred lawyers seek readmission.

This information was obtained from The Florida Bar’s website.

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 Paralegals ask to be Bar Licensed and Regulated

Gary Blankenship wrote in his article for The Florida Bar’s, The Florida Bar News, that as part of the required three-year review of the Bar’s voluntary Florida Registered Paralegal program, the Bar is looking into the request by some paralegals that they be licensed and regulated by the Bar or the Supreme Court.

It was announced that The Bar Board of Governors, at its July 23 meeting, approved a recommendation from the Program Evaluation Committee to set up a nine-member committee to examine regulating paralegals.

“That program [FRP] is up for review right now. But the registered paralegals have requested that we look into requiring that they be regulated in some form or fashion, and their request specifically is that they be regulated by The Florida Bar or the Florida Supreme Court,” said board member Greg Coleman, chair of the Program Evaluation Committee, which will review the registered paralegal program.

Coleman noted that several years ago, paralegals went to the Legislature to request mandatory regulation. That measure died when the Bar agreed to study the issue, which led to the registered paralegal program.

“This time they came to us first. We had quite a long discussion,” Coleman said. “We think it is worthwhile exploring and think it’s something that should be discussed and vetted.”

It was announced that the new committee will include three members from the PEC subcommittee, three paralegals, and three others chosen by Bar President Mayanne Downs.

“The [PEC] motion was to have this committee appointed to explore this issue of paralegal regulation and anything else the president wants to throw into the mix,” Coleman said. “There’s a real threshold question on whether the Supreme Court can regulate paralegals, and that will be looked at.”

Notably, the board approved the recommendation by a voice vote.

Mark Workman, president of the Florida Alliance of Paralegal Associations, said regulation would protect the public by helping to crack down on unsupervised paralegals who do unauthorized legal work and also help in “setting educational standards, ethical guidelines and to enhance the public’s perception of who we are and what we can and cannot do.”

Workman also said, “We want to have a valid say in our direction . . . in the direction the paralegal profession goes.”

Workman added that his organization performed a survey of paralegals and the preliminary results showed 95 percent felt the $150, which is paid annually to the Bar by those participating in the Florida Registered Paralegal program, should be spent exclusively on matters to help and advance paralegals.

Ninety percent said paralegal representatives on the Bar’s FRP Committee should be elected by paralegals rather than appointed by the Bar; 87 percent said paralegals should have a voice in their profession, he said. Another 79 percent favor mandatory regulation of paralegals, but only 50 percent thought the Bar’s existing FRP program should be mandatory.

“We do want more control over our profession,” Workman said. “We believe that it is through the Supreme Court that we should be regulated; it needs to stem from the Supreme Court and not directly from The Florida Bar.”

Johnna Phillips, a former president of the Paralegal Association of Florida and a member of the Bar committee that came up with the current FRP program, said mandatory regulation is a logical step and not necessarily a major change from the current program.

It could be as simple as requiring that anyone using or given the title paralegal meet the education and testing requirements of the FRP program. That includes passing one of two nationally recognized paralegal certification exams.

It would also abolish the current grandfather clause, due to expire in another year, of the FRP program, she said.

“We would want something that is very similar to the provisions of the FRP program without the grandfathering,” Phillips said. “Candidates would have to meet the credentials of the FRP program at the time the sunset goes away. There would be a mandatory education requirement for those who call themselves paralegals.”

Paralegals wanted a mandatory scheme when the FRP program was set up, and accepted that as a first step, she said.

“I think mandatory would be the next reasonable step in the process,” Phillips said. “There are a whole host of other categories inside the legal team; legal secretaries and legal assistants are certainly part of the legal team. Our time is being billed out and clients should have some sense of assurance when they’re seeing time billed for a paralegal; it is truly someone who is a paralegal.”

This article appeared on The Florida Bar’s website.

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.