Attorney discipline: 7 punished in South Florida

Editor's note: This Shark recalls that many of the unethical, illegal and repulsive conduct stated below were reported to the IARDC regarding the estate of Alice R. Gore, a 99 year old disabled ward of the Probate Court of Cook County. The IARDC action...nothing! The thieves were protected.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Attorney discipline: 7 punished in South Florida

Feb 2, 2015, 7:28am EST

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Shaun Bevan

Digital Producer- South Florida Business Journal

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The Florida Supreme Court disciplined 7 South Florida attorneys in recent actions brought by The Florida Bar. The actions:
• Herbert Wingfield Biggs, of Jupiter, was suspended for one year, effective 30 days from a Nov. 20 court order. Biggs failed to supervise a non-lawyer with whom he had a business relationship. When Biggs was absent from his law office, handling matters in Nevada, the non-lawyer, a convicted felon, solicited business, accepted funds from clients, used Biggs' letterhead and forged the attorney's signature. Further, Biggs shall pay restitution of more than $53,000 to two clients.
• James Whitcomb J. Carpenter, of Fort Lauderdale, was suspended for 90 days, effective Dec. 23, after modification of the Dec. 4 court order. Further, Carpenter shall attend ethics school and comply with other conditions. After the death of his stepfather, Carpenter initially failed to correctly identify all of the potential beneficiaries to the probate court.

See Also

• Attorney discipline: 10 punished in South Florida
• Attorney discipline: 5 suspended in South Florida
• Attorney discipline: 8 punished in South Florida

• Michael Ralph Casey, of Oakland Park, was disbarred following a Nov. 21 court order. Casey is accused of defrauding hundreds of investors worldwide out of approximately $20 million. In September 2012, he was charged in federal court, with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. On April 29, Casey failed to appear for a court hearing and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest by the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida. The FBI Wanted poster indicates that Casey "should be considered armed and dangerous."
• Robert James Julia, of Miami Lakes, was suspended for six months, effective 30 days from a Nov. 20 court order. Further, Julia shall pay restitution of $3,000 to one client. Julia engaged in improper business dealings with a long-time family friend. As a result of him taking a tax loss that was attributable to the investor, Julia received tax benefits to which he has not entitled.
• S. Tracy Long, of Delray Beach, was suspended for one year, effective 30 days from a Nov. 20 court order. Long shall also pay restitution totaling $11,500 to three clients. In one instance, Long hired non-lawyers to provide paralegal services and market foreclosure defense and loan modification and shared fees with them. In another case, Long was retained to help clients with a foreclosure matter. They continued to pay him, believing that he was working on saving the home. The clients were subsequently forced to vacate the premises.
• Louis Randolf Townsend Jr., of West Palm Beach, was suspended for 91 days, effective 30 days from a Dec. 17 court order. Townsend was found in contempt for practicing law while suspended.
• Stuart Barry Yanofsky, of Plantation, is to be publicly reprimanded following a Nov. 14 court order. Yanofsky was found in contempt for failing to respond to Florida Bar inquiries in a timely manner.

Shaun Bevan is the digital producer for the South Florida Business Journal. Stay on top of the latest business news with our free daily newsletter. Click here to subscribe.

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Judge Mike Maggio Appears Before Ethics Commission

Marci Manley

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06/20/2014 05:10 PM

06/20/2014 06:02 PM

The Arkansas judge who made national headlines this spring faced the Arkansas Ethics Commission on Friday in a confidential hearing regarding campaign contributions.

LITTLE ROCK, AR - The Arkansas judge who made national headlines this spring faced the Arkansas Ethics Commission on Friday in a confidential hearing regarding campaign contributions. 

Maggio's name hit headlines after blogger Matt Campbell linked the judge to questionable comments on an online sports forum, including disclosing confidential details of an adoption by celebrity Charlize Theron. 

That triggered an investigation by the Arkansas Judicial Discipline Commission. Maggio withdrew from the appeals court race and apologized for a lapse in judgment. 

Campbell later highlighted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions made to Maggio's campaign from political action committees that were linked to a nursing home owner who had been a defendant in Maggio's court. 

That led to additional investigations by the Judicial Discipline and Arkansas Ethics Commissions. 

Our crew was the only television team there, but Maggio didn't have any comment for the camera. 

"Judge Maggio you don't have anything you want to say, nothing to the public?" we asked Judge Mike Maggio for the second time as he quickly exited from a back room in the Arkansas Ethics Commission building. 

Following a confidential session with commissioners, Maggio had no comment for the camera or the public. 

"No, he has an attorney who is going to address the public here today and that's what we're doing," Maggio's attorney Lauren Hamilton said. "These are confidential proceedings and we are participating, and he has due process rights. Judge Maggio doesn't have to address the public at all at this point.."

In March, the daughters of Martha Bull filed paperwork with the Arkansas Judicial Commission. Those papers outlined the timing of thousands of dollars in contributions to Judge Maggio's appeals court campaign. The paperwork triggered a Judicial Discipline investigation, but the Ethics Commission also confirmed it was investigating the donations. 

"He [Maggio] has acted ethically and is ready to serve the 20th Judicial District and the people in those counties," Hamilton said. 

"The ultimate outcome we'd like to see the family of Martha Bull to ultimately get another day in court," said Thomas Buchanan, attorney for Bull's family. "My only reaction [to today's proceedings] is we hope that the process works the way it should work and that the law is enforced the way that it should be. Because if it's not enforced, what's the purpose of it?

Martha Bull died at a Greenbrier nursing home six years ago. A jury had awarded $5 million to her family in its negligence suit, but Maggio later reduced that amount to $1 million. His decision came just days after the nursing home's owner had financed the campaign contributions in question.

When we asked outright if Maggio had accepted campaign contributions as payment for reducing the award amount, his attorney responded, "That is not even the purpose of the commission's meeting today. All of those proceedings are ongoing."

Buchanan agreed that the Ethics Commission wouldn't be addressing that question. 

"But I think that's the ultimate question that the public has," he said. 

The director of the Ethics Commission couldn't comment on why Maggio was at the meeting or what took place. According to Commission rules, if a case is dismissed the commissioners must take a public vote to do so. The only public vote to dismiss did not involve Maggio. 

Maggio was appointed to the bench in 2001 by then-governor Mike Huckabee. Maggio has been elected twice since. 

As mentioned, there are two other Judicial Discipline investigations ongoing. That commission's director expects an update to those cases in August. 

Preckwinkle dumps top Cook County ethics official who fought Berrios over nepotism

Editor's note: MaryNic, ethics in Cook County, especially in the Probate Court are like ethics from Mars or Venus.  Nepotism, cronyism, perjury and forgery are considered every day occurrences and are part of the game play.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster,  ProbateSharks.com


Preckwinkle dumps top Cook County ethics official who fought Berrios over nepotism

By DAN MIHALOPOULOS Staff Reporter dmihalopoulos@suntimes.com July 29, 2013 9:26PM

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MaryNic Foster, who was dumped after five years as executive director of the Cook County Ethics Board by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

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Updated: July 30, 2013 10:18AM

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has fired a top county ethics official who was trying to punish Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios for putting relatives on his payroll.

MaryNic Foster was quietly dumped from her $110,355-a-year post in May after five years as executive director of the county’s Board of Ethics.

 

With Preckwinkle’s support, the ethics board had hired attorney David Hoffman, the former City of Chicago inspector general, earlier this year to press its case that Berrios should pay $10,000 in fines and fire three family members.

Berrios, who also chairs the Cook County Democratic Party, has ignored ethics board rulings against him. He maintains that the county’s ethics rules apply only to the Cook County Board, not to the assessor or other countywide officials whose positions were established by the state of Illinois.

Foster said top aides to Preckwinkle didn’t give her a reason for removing her from the post she’s held since 2008 — a job that’s exempt from rules that ban political considerations from influencing county hiring or firing decisions.

“I was advised that the president wanted to go in a different direction,” Foster said. “I believe that I was doing a good job. Every elected official has the right to put who they want in place there.

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“Whoever comes in will have their hands full.”

Preckwinkle’s deputy chief of staff, Kimberly Foxx, has been interim director of the ethics board since Foster’s dismissal. Foxx would not say why Preckwinkle dumped Foster.

Maribeth Vander Weele, one of five ethics board commissioners, said she agreed with Preckwinkle’s decision because “the office needed to be professionalized. It has no investigative procedures. Case notes are hand-written. There are no standards for professional conduct. As aggressive as this office is, we need to make sure every investigation is thorough and objective.”

Foxx said Preckwinkle will appoint a permanent replacement to take the post in early August. Neither Foxx nor a spokeswoman for Preckwinkle would say who that will be.

Foxx said she did not know the status of the ethics board’s case against Berrios.

Foster and the ethics board had found Berrios violated the county ethics ordinance’s ban on nepotism, fined him $10,000 and called on him to fire his son, daughter and sister, who have been working for him since he was sworn in as assessor in 2010.

The ethics board hired Hoffman to go to court to enforce its ruling and affirm the board’s authority over the assessor’s office. No lawsuit has been filed. Hoffman did not return calls.

County officials recently agreed to pay a total of $529,000 to 11 people Berrios was found to have fired wrongly after he became assessor nearly three years ago.

Berrios is also fighting county Inspector General Patrick Blanchard’s efforts to investigate allegations of wrongdoing in his office. Blanchard is suing to assert his authority over the assessor.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office is trying to get Blanchard’s case against Berrios thrown out.

At the time Foster was booted from the ethics post, she also was investigating allegations of wrongdoing by county Treasurer Maria Pappas, prompted by a 2011 report by WBBM-Channel 2 and the Better Government Association that two treasurer’s office employees ran personal errands for Pappas.

Pappas said she has done nothing wrong and that the state’s attorney office has told her “don’t answer anything” from the ethics board or inspector general.

On July 15, Blanchard issued a report saying Pappas refused to cooperate with a separate probe he’s conducting “involving a high-ranking official” in her office.

01 Feb 2013 at 5:13 PM

Job Searches, Legal Ethics, Reader Polls

And This Is How We Turn Good People Into Unethical Lawyers

By Elie Mystal

This cheese isn’t a good deal.

Today’s story about Georgetown’s Marc Gersen has me thinking about how regular people become criminals. Gersen’s story is the kind of thing books are made of, it’s big and bold and colorful.
But on the smaller scale, people are pushed into unethical decisions all the time, and it rarely comes with the stark choices of, “Should I, or should I NOT, start a meth ring?” People, especially the kind of risk averse people that end up in law school, don’t make one big decision to “become a criminal.” It’s a bunch of little decisions that incrementally take you from “normal, law abiding citizen” to “bad actor.”
Today, we got an email from a person who is thinking about making an unethical choice out of desperation for a job. Why don’t you read her dilemma for yourself and tell her what you think she should do….

A reader sent us an email and asked if the ATL audience could weigh in on her career decision. Jobless, this recent graduate has an offer from an attorney who is allegedly unethical. Here’s how she describes her potential employer:

Negative reviews are everywhere saying his firm is a scam and he is a rip-off. This guy is being sued for stealing clients money. The gov’t issued a search warrant and confiscated his computers and clients’ files last year. I don’t know the result of this investigation.
The state bar also initiated the disciplinary proceeding for violating 29 counts of state business and professions code. They are recently discharged. He filed ch.7 to get rid of his debts and recently established a P.C. His ex-employee told me he was not a scrupulous guy and she did not want to get involved with him again. He has a very bad reputation in town. (But I live in a very big city, so I assume it may not be that fatal.)

She says that under normal circumstances, she would turn down the offer. But, she has no job and has bills to pay. Thus, her question to our readers:

So here is my question…
Is this really bad for an entry-level lawyer to work for an (arguably) bad lawyer? Is it an absolute NO? Which one is more important: get some experience or working at a right/good firm?
To put it another way, which one is worse: having no experience or working at a bad firm? I keep searching job postings and there is no opening for entry-level. Everyone looks for experienced lawyers. So I get the impression that no experience is the worst.
I don’t know what to do with this offer. Feels not right to accept this offer but cannot just forgo. So give me some advice — should I accept his offer?

This is how it starts. If she’s so desperate to get the job that she’s willing to work with a disreputable attorney, what is she going to be willing to do in order to keep it?
Young lawyers need to remember that generating clients has a lot to do with one’s reputation. It’s really not worth the risk of sullying your own long term reputation for the short term cash. It’d be better to work at McDonald’s while taking on clients for free than drawing a paycheck signed by a guy nobody respects or trusts.
What do you guys think? Should this woman do what she has to do to pay some bills, or are some offers not worth the reputational risk?

Should this jobless law graduate take a job with an allegedly unethical lawyer?

• Yes. Beggars can't be choosers.
• No. Your reputation is your most valuable asset.

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