THE FLORIDA BAR, PETITIONER,
v.
CHARLES E. THOMSON, RESPONDENT

Fla. | 1978-01-12
No. 51851
ADKINS, Acting C. J., and BOYD, ENGLAND, HATCHETT and KARL, JJ., concur.
354 So. 2d 872 Florida Supreme Court (1978) Caution
Cited by 2 cases

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.

Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court reinstated Charles Thomson to The Florida Bar after a four-year suspension period following two separate disciplinary actions. The court rejected The Florida Bar's recommendation against reinstatement and found that Thomson's minimal and casual client contact while working as a paralegal during suspension did not warrant denying his petition.


Holding

Thomson is reinstated to The Florida Bar. The court held that the minimal and casual client contact during paralegal employment, which did not involve holding himself out as an attorney or rendering legal advice, does not warrant denying reinstatement. The court stated that while such contact was predictable and not strictly forbidden by the prior order's language, future direct client contact by suspended attorneys will not be tolerated.


Headnotes

[1] A suspended attorney's petition for reinstatement may be granted despite minor, incidental client contact during supervised paralegal employment, if such contact was not…

[2] A court may permit a suspended attorney to petition for reinstatement immediately after the expiration of their suspension period, even if the petition is filed before th…

Previewing 2 of 5 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

Key Quotes

“Since the client contact was casual and minimal, we conclude that Thomson should not be denied reinstatement on that basis.”

The court's holding that minimal client contact during paralegal employment does not warrant denial of reinstatement

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Thomson was originally suspended for two years by court order in 1972. During suspension, he worked as a paralegal under attorney supervision with cou…

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.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

The Florida Bar has filed in this Court its recommendation,1 together with a record of the proceedings, on Charles Thomson’s petition for reinstatement to membership in The Florida Bar. The recommendation opposes reinstatement.

Charles Thomson’s membership in The Florida Bar was suspended for two years by order of this Court. Florida Bar v. Thomson, 271 So. 2d 758 (Fla.1972). During the suspension he was employed by two attorneys as a paralegal. The Florida Bar informed the attorneys that it believed the paralegal employment to be unethical. In response Thomson, through one of the attorneys, filed a Petition for Clarification which resulted in an order of this Court permitting him, during his suspension, to continue limited, supervised employment as a paralegal. Florida Bar v. Thomson, 310 So. 2d 300 (Fla.1975).

Just as the two-year suspension was to have ended, Thomson was charged by the Bar with misconduct committed when he had been in good standing. Mrs. Joy S. Barnes had given Thomson personal property as security for a fee due him for representation of her son. The charged misconduct was that he had disposed of the property without her knowledge and consent and without an accounting. In view of this charge Thomson did not seek reinstatement and so the suspension continued. Hearings were conducted by the Bar, suspension, was recommended, and this Court ordered a second suspension of two years. Florida Bar v. Thomson, 344 So. 2d 552 (Fla.1976). By the time Thomson’s petition for rehearing on the second suspension was disposed of, more than four years (the sum of the time periods of the two suspensions) had elapsed since imposition of the original suspension. On rehearing, therefore, this Court permitted Thomson to petition immediately for reinstatement. Id., at 554, on rehearing denied March 31, 1977.

Following a hearing on Thomson’s petition for reinstatement the referee, despite evidence of rehabilitation, reluctantly concluded that the petition should be denied because Thomson, while a paralegal as allowed by. order of this Court, had had direct contact with clients in contravention of that order. Such client contact was predictable. See Florida Bar v. Thomson, 310 So. 2d 300 (Fla.1975), Overton, J., dissenting. And in fairness to Thomson it cannot be said that all client contact was strictly and specifically forbidden by this Court’s order.2 It appears from the testimony adduced at the hearing that Thomson did not hold himself out to be an attorney in his contact with clients and that such contact was largely for the purpose of relaying information to attorneys out of the office and did not include the rendering of legal advice. Since the client contact was casual and minimal, we conclude that Thomson should not be denied reinstatement on that basis. Nothing in this opinion, however, is to be taken as an indication that this Court, in the future, will tolerate direct client contact by a suspended attorney performing lay legal services. See Rule 11.10(7)(3), Article XI, Integration Rule of The Florida Bar. We have carefully considered the entire record, including the report of the referee, and it is the order of this Court that Charles E. Thomson is hereby reinstated as a member of The Florida Bar upon the effective date of this order. He is hereby ordered to pay costs in the amount of $156.83 to The Florida Bar within thirty days of the filing of this order, said amount being in addition to the $150.00 deposit previously made.

It is so ordered.

ADKINS, Acting C. J., and BOYD, ENGLAND, HATCHETT and KARL, JJ., concur. . Article XI, Rule 11.11(10), Integration Rule of The Florida Bar. . Suspended attorneys who are employed to perform legal services which laymen may ethi cally perform are on notice that direct contact with clients is strictly forbidden. Employers of suspended attorneys are on such notice, as well. Rule 11.10(7)(3), Art. XI, Integration Rule of The Florida Bar, amended after Thomson was given permission to work as a paralegal. Florida Bar, In re Amendment to Integration Rule, Art. XI, 332 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1976).


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • THE Fla. BAR re Walter Benton Dunagan, 775 So. 2d 959 (Fla. 2000)
    …tement. See Florida Bar re Cohen, 560 So. 2d 785 (Fla.1990) (approving referee’s denial of petition for reinstatement based on petitioner’s holding out self as an attorney and failing to notify clients during suspension); cf. Florida Bar v. Thomson, 354 So. 2d 872 (Fla.1978) (reinstating suspended attorney who did not hold himself out to be an attorney in his contact with clients); see Florida Bar re Webster, 647 So. 2d 816, 817-18 (Fla.1994) (denying petition for reinstatement because of “misrepresentation b…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw