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Recent disciplinary actions

Filed Under Disciplinary Actions 

The Florida Bar has published the most recent list of attorneys disciplined by the Florida Supreme Court. The complete list can be found at the Florida Bar website. The following information on South Florida attorneys was excerpted from the Florida Bar website:

Nathaniel Joe Birdsong III, 9050 Pines Blvd., Suite 300, Pembroke Pines, suspended for one year, effective 30 days from an August 30 court order and ordered to pay restitution to two clients. (Admitted to practice: 1999) Birdsong failed to

respond to repeated requests for information on the status of a case. Although he responded to the subsequent Bar inquiry and offered a full refund to the client, he failed to respond to follow-up communication from Bar counsel. In another case involving failure to communicate with a client, Birdsong failed to respond to the Bar complaint or to appear for the grievance committee hearing. Most recently, Birdsong, who was ineligible to practice because he was delinquent in paying his Florida Bar fees, signed a letter as “Esq.” in the course of representing clients. (Case No. SC07-293)

Mark Irwin Blumstein, 4581 Weston Road, No. 203, Weston, disbarred, effective immediately,pursuant to an August 30 court order, and ordered to pay $26,000 restitution to a husband and wife he represented in a civil case. (Admitted to practice: 1986) Blumstein arbitrarily and without the clients’ consent attempted to charge a contingency fee in lieu of the contracted hourly rate. After the first payment in a settlement was received by Blumstein, he told the clients that he had received no settlement funds on their behalf. The clients then successfully filed a civil action against Blumstein. A subsequent audit of his trust accounts determined that for a period of three years he consistently did not have sufficient funds to satisfy all of his trust fund account obligations and that the shortages were caused by his misappropriation and conversion of trust funds to his own purpose or purposes other than those for which they were intended. (Case No. SC06-2181)

Joseph Wimbert Gibson, Jr., 19 W. Flagler St., Suite 620, Miami, to receive a public reprimand to be administered by the Board of Governors and placed on probation for six months, effective immediately, pursuant to an August 30 court order. During the probationary period, Gibson is required to complete 15 hours of practice and professionalism enhancement programs. (Admitted to practice: 1982) Gibson failed to adequately analyze a client’s case and confer with her prior to filing the complaint and did not adequately respond to a motion for summary judgment. After he withdrew as counsel for his client, citing irreconcilable differences, the client failed to obtain a new counsel and the court granted the opposing party’s motion for summary judgment. In another case, Gibson began arguing during a sidebar with the judge and refused to return to his seat. Although he was given the opportunity to avoid the finding of criminal contempt by completing continuing legal education requirements, Gibson failed to complete them and was held in criminal contempt. (Case Nos. SC06-526 and SC06-2407)

Jonathan Russell Kaplan, 515 N. Flagler Drive, Suite 801, West Palm Beach, suspended for six months, effective 30 days from an August 30 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1991) Facing the possibility of federal charges focusing on his representation of a client and his adult night clubs, Kaplan voluntarily reported to the Bar that he had altered that client’s trust ledger. He had been required to produce the ledger in post-judgment proceedings to locate assets that could be levied to pay an $87,000 judgment against the client. (Case No. SC07-391)

Gabriel I. Martin, 670 N.E. 114th St., Biscayne Park, suspended for three years retroactively to October 16, 2006, pursuant to an August 30 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1999) Martin, who was inexperienced in the practice of real estate law, went into business with a suspended Florida attorney who claimed extensive experience in that area. He applied to a title company for authority to write title policies and from April 2005 until August 2006, Martin acted as a de facto title company and created an account in his P.A. to handle title and real estate transactions. Martin relied wholly on the suspended attorney in conducting transactions, and to keep books and complete HUD statements. He also relied on this attorney to keep track of the deposit and disbursement of title company operating account funds and the P.A. trust account. In April 2006, the Bar received information from the FBI indicating that the suspended attorney was involved in fraudulent real estate transactions. The Bar served a subpoena on Martin, his employer at the time. While a polygraph examination confirmed that Martin was unaware of the suspended attorney’s fraudulent activities, he nonetheless signed checks totaling more than $2 million. Because of Martin’s negligence, the suspended attorney was able to conduct 12 additional closings between May 24, 2006, and July 14, 2006, which netted about $8.86 million from lenders into Martin’s trust accounts. (Case No. SC06-2418)

Imani Shele, 5950 W. Oakland Park Blvd., Suite 205-B, Lauderhill, suspended for one year, effective 30 days from an August 30 court order. (Admitted to practice: 2000) Shele accepted more than $1,600 from a client she was retained to represent in a dissolution of marriage case. When a fourth payment was returned to the client as undeliverable, she attempted to reach Shele, who had not filed any documents in the case. The client retained new counsel and filed a Bar complaint. Shele failed to respond to the complaint and did not appear at any related proceedings. (Case No. SC06-2460)

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One Response to “Recent disciplinary actions”

  1. Recent disciplinary actions at Real Estate Attorney Florida on October 30th, 2007 3:36 am

    […] Original post by South Florida Legal News […]

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