THE FLORIDA BAR. IN RE ARTHUR A. KIMMEL
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The court held that the Florida Bar examination requirement for reinstatement may be waived under specific circumstances, particularly when the petitioner has been absent from practice for an extended period.
[1] A petition for reinstatement to the bar may be dismissed without prejudice if the petitioner has not met a previously ordered condition, such as passing the bar examinati…
[2] The requirement of passing the bar examination for reinstatement may be waived if the petitioner has been out of active practice for a significant period and has demonstr…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceArthur A. Kimmel, disbarred in 1960, petitioned for reinstatement after making full restitution. He requested a waiver of the Florida Bar examination …
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PER CURIAM.
Arthur A. Kimmel has petitioned for reinstatement to The Florida Bar. Petitioner was disbarred from the practice of law on November 30, 1960, for conversion of $18,-000 of his client’s property. State ex rel. The Florida Bar v. Kimmel, 124 So. 2d 705 (Fla.1960). He first sought reinstatement in October of 1975. After proceedings before a referee and The Florida Bar Board of Governors, this Court issued the following order:
Upon consideration of the Recommendation of the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar, the petition of Arthur A. Kimmel for reinstatement to The Florida Bar is dismissed without prejudice to reapply after satisfactory completion of the Florida Bar Examination and full restitution is made.
Petitioner filed the present petition for reinstatement on November 10, 1980, in which he furnished evidence that restitution was complete, but in which he requested that this Court waive the bar examination requirement set forth in its previous order. The Florida Bar has moved that the petition for reinstatement be dismissed because petitioner has not passed the bar examination as required by this Court’s previous order. The referee recommended that the Bar’s motion to dismiss be granted.
Petitioner has not actively practiced law for over twenty years, and the record reflects that he has since been employed in a nonlegally related field. Under these circumstances, we find that the requirement of passing the Florida Bar examination is not an extreme requisite to reinstatement. Especially in cases for reinstatement, the public must be assured of a lawyer’s rehabilitation and continuing competency. The bar examination is but one indicator that a lawyer is still qualified to practice.
We reaffirm our previous order and grant the bar’s motion for dismissal without prejudice so that petitioner may re-petition after successful completion of the Florida Bar examination. We direct that execution issue against petitioner for the costs of these proceedings in the amount of $108.75.
It is so ordered.
ADKINS, Acting C. J., and OVERTON, ENGLAND, ALDERMAN and MCDONALD, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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THE Fla. BAR. In re Petition of Harris L. Kimball for Reinstatement, 425 So. 2d 531 (Fla. 1982)…barred in 1964 and applied for reinstatement in 1980. This Court conditioned his reinstatement upon completion of the Florida and Ethics portions of The Florida Bar Examination as per the 1964 rules. In the other case, The Florida Bar. In re Kimmel, 402 So. 2d 388 (Fla.1981), petitioner was disbarred in 1960 and sought reinstatement in 1975. We required him to take the full Florida Bar Examination, as per the 1960 rules. In both proceedings, the petitioner and The Florida Bar jointly misper-ceived the correct…
Authorities Cited
- State of Fla. ex rel. THE Fla. BAR v. Kimmel, 124 So. 2d 705 (Fla. 1960)