THE FLORIDA BAR, COMPLAINANT,
v.
LAURA R. MORRISON, RESPONDENT
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
The Florida Bar disciplined attorney Laura R. Morrison for neglecting a federal criminal appeal, failing to timely file an appellate brief, and providing inconsistent testimony about her filing practices. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the referee's findings and imposed a ten-day suspension with one-year probation and supervision requirements.
Morrison violated Disciplinary Rules 3-104(D) (lawyer responsible for delegated work), 1-102(A)(4) (conduct involving misrepresentation), and 6-101(A)(3) (neglect of legal matter). Although no clear and convincing evidence showed Morrison directly caused the violations, she remained responsible for her staff's actions.
[1] A lawyer is responsible for the actions of their staff, even if not directly responsible for the misconduct.
[2] Conduct involving misrepresentation violates disciplinary rules.
Previewing 2 of 6 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“respondent was absent from her office for substantial periods of time during this period”
Establishes Morrison's unavailability as a contributing factor to missing the court deadline and failing to receive the warning letter.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMorrison was retained in July 1984 to prosecute a criminal appeal for Alan Ronald Kaye in the Tenth Circuit. After multiple extensions were granted, t…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Failure To Prosecute Appeal cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
This disciplinary proceeding is before us on complaint of The Florida Bar, respondent’s tendered unconditional guilty plea and the uncontested report of the referee. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 15, Fla. Const. Respondent was retained in July 1984 by the parents of Alan Ronald Kaye to prosecute an appeal on his behalf following Kaye’s criminal conviction in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Over the next several months, respondent communicated with the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; several of respondent’s motions for extensions of time in which to file an appellate brief were granted. The last such motion was received by the circuit court on March 20, 1985 and an extension was granted to March 28. When no appellate brief was received by that date, the clerk of the circuit court wrote respondent advising her that she had missed the deadline and that a brief must be filed by May 10. According to the referee’s report, respondent “was not made aware” of this letter and failed to respond; this resulted in a federal public defender being appointed to represent Kaye. Once respondent learned of the contents of this letter, she filed a brief on June 24, 1985. The referee found that respondent was absent from her office for substantial periods of time during this period. Respondent testified before a grievance committee that she had mailed a brief on March 18, 1985, and offered as proof a postal receipt.
On January 24,1986 respondent, by letter, recanted this previous testimony and stated that the correct mailing date was March 25, 1985. Respondent also testified that upon learning the court had never received the brief she had her staff prepare a copy of the brief which was received by the court on June 24, 1985. An expert document examiner rendered an opinion that this brief was an original document and the source document for the brief in respondent’s file being dated March 25, 1985. The respondent could not account for the discrepancy between her testimony, the contents of the court file and the document examiner’s findings.
The referee noted that although there was no clear and convincing evidence that respondent was the party directly responsible, she was responsible for the actions of her staff.
Accordingly, the referee recommended that respondent be found guilty of violating the following Disciplinary Rules: 3-104(D) (a lawyer shall be responsible for all work delegated to nonlawyer personnel); 1-102(A)(4) (conduct involving misrepresentation); and, 6-101(A)(3) (neglect of a legal matter).
The referee recommended that respondent be suspended from the practice of law for ten days with automatic reinstatement at the end of this period. The referee further recommended that respondent be placed on probation for a period of one year. As a condition of this probation the referee recommended that respondent be supervised by an attorney acceptable to The Florida Bar, that she meet at least once a month with the supervising attorney and be required at that time to submit a written report on the status and action to be taken on all open files in respondent’s office. The referee also recommended that respondent bear the cost of the disciplinary proceedings.
We approve the report of the referee and adopt his recommendations. Accordingly, respondent is hereby suspended from the practice of law for ten days. This suspension shall be effective immediately and respondent.shall accept no new business during the period of suspension. Judgment for costs in the amount of $2,446.16 is hereby entered against respondent, for which sum let execution issue.
It is so ordered.
McDonald, C.J., and ADKINS, EHRLICH, SHAW and BARKETT, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
THE Florida BAR v. Rotstein, 835 So. 2d 241 (Fla. 2002)…Rotstein for support are not on point either because they do not include the numerous rule violations present in the instant case or because the cited cases are dated and do not reflect the evolving views of this Court. See Florida Bar v. Morrison, 496 So. 2d 820, 821 (Fla.1986) (suspending for ten days an attorney who failed to timely file an appellate brief in a criminal appeal and made misrepresentations to the grievance committee); Florida Bar v. Neely, 372 So. 2d 89, 93 (Fla.1979) (suspending for ninety…
-
THE Florida BAR v. COX, 794 So. 2d 1278 (Fla. 2001)…false affidavits, and deliberately attempting to mislead the Bar where the individual involved also had prior disciplinary offenses and possessed a dishonest motive. See also Florida Bar v. Story, 529 So. 2d 1114 (Fla.1988); Florida Bar v. Morrison, 496 So. 2d 820 (Fla.1986); Florida Bar v. Shapiro, 456 So. 2d 452 (Fla.1984). While I do not condone that which occurred in this case and find it both troubling and aggravating due to the nature of the circumstances, I would not second-guess the referee, merely s…
-
THE Florida BAR v. Corbin, 701 So. 2d 334 (Fla. 1997)…ar v. Fatolitis, 546 So. 2d 1054 (Fla. 1989) (imposing public reprimand for forging wife’s name as a witness); Florida Bar v. Story, 529 So. 2d 1114 (Fla.1988) (imposing thirty-day suspension for improperly notarizing will); Florida Bar v. Morrison, 496 So. 2d 820 (Fla.1986) (imposing ten-day suspension for discrepancy in testimony before grievance committee). Deliberate lack of candor has resulted in lesser discipline. See, e.g., Florida Bar v. Wright, 520 So. 2d 269 (Fla.1988) (imposing public reprimand for…
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence