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Throughout the country, confidence is waning in our judiciary and court system and in particular, in the oversight agencies supposedly established for the purpose of disciplining errant judges and lawyers who engage in misconduct.
The following letter on “Lawyer Regulation” written by Florida attorney Jeffrey R. Hill of Jacksonville, Fla., recently appeared in “The Florida Bar News”.
“Our system of government demands that the legal profession command the
public's full trust and confidence. A recent survey by The Florida Bar's Research, Planning and Evaluation Department revealed 68% of those surveyed say the public does not have confidence in the legal system.
“Under the current system, Florida's attorneys are licensed, supervised,
and regulated by the Florida Supreme Court through The Florida Bar, which is
the delegated administrative arm of the court. While self-regulation of the profession by the Bar may have been a worthwhile experiment, it is becoming increasingly apparent that it fails to even-handedly regulate lawyer misconduct. The Bar's failure is a disservice to both the public and the professionally responsible attorneys who suffer by association.
“Among the greatest flaws in the Bar's grievance and disciplinary process are inadequate investigation and documentation to support grievance committee decisions. Written records are not ordinarily kept of grievance committee proceedings. The discussions are typically oral and not, routinely, recorded. This fosters cronyism characterized by a lack of meaningful investigations and nod-nod, wink-wink decisions when well-connected lawyers are involved. Many firms are political juggernauts that enjoy a unique shield against consequences for violating the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar.
“Is there a solution to the Bar's inability to appropriately regulate lawyer misconduct? It doesn't seem capable of investigating itself. Maybe the current system just cannot be fixed and must instead be changed.
“Legislators, public officials, and special interest groups have in the past called for the regulation of the legal profession by an entity other than the Supreme Court. Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation seems the logical entity to take over since it already oversees licensing and regulation of most other professionals including accountants, veterinarians, contractors, and about 200 other occupations.
“It seems likely the DBPR would be a far better watchdog over the legal profession than the current system of the Bar and the Supreme Court of Florida. The fox has guarded the hen house long enough”.
Attorney Jeffrey R. Hill was employed by the law firm, Farah, Farah & Abbott, aka Law Firm of Eddie Farah, in 2004 when he discovered it was regularly overcharging its personal injury clients.
An audit completed in April, 2005 by The Florida Bar shows that the firm admits to having overbilled clients and has issued approximately $130,000 in refunds. http://home.comcast.net/~email4hill/fla_bar_audit_041305.pdf
However, the Bar has inexplicably refused to initiate any disciplinary action against Farah.
The report was prepared by certified public accountant and certified fraud examiner James F. Wells following his audit on Farah's trust account records and procedures for the period 2002 through 2004 to determine whether they complied with the requirements of the Florida Bar rules governing trust accounts.
The Bar audit substantiates Hill's claim, saying that "administrative costs that were not substantiated by documentary evidence were charged on some settlement statements in personal injury cases. These administrative costs were in excess of the documented costs such as copies, faxes and postage. Rule 5-1.2(b)(4) requires documentary support for all disbursements from the trust account. These costs were not authorized by the clients".
Additionally, in a letter to the Bar in September, Farah admitted that clients of his firm had been overcharged.
For more on the Farah overbillings and the failure of The Florida Bar to act, see
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/011706OverbilledClients.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/120905AdmitOvercharging.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/121605LawFirmsExempt.html
For other information alleged mishandling of disciplinary actions involving The Florida Bar, see Jeff Hill’s website exposing alleged misconduct by The Florida Bar and
Attorney General Charlie Crist
http://home.comcast.net/~email4hill/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html
Jack Thompson website about corruption in The Florida Bar
http://www.theflabar.org/
Frank Lawrence's website about the Florida Board of Bar Examiners
http://www.floridabarwatch.org/index.html 4-15-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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