Another of the lawyers I spoke about some at last year’s Ethics Roadshow is back in the news. As an example of the power of disciplinary authorities to pursue emergency suspensions on an indefinite basis when a lawyer is perceived to be a threat to the public, we highlighted the travails of a Florida lawyer who had gone on the record in federal court accusing opposing counsel of having embedded a microchip in her brain. Apparently, she had been making similar accusations in the state court system for many years but the federal district court hearing such an accusation did not take a laissez-faire attitude.
This week we have learned that her temporary suspension has now been transformed into a 91 day suspension plus an indefinite period thereafter until she can comply with some conditions to demonstrate rehabilitation. It appears pretty clear that her refusal to do as the bar requested and allow a mental health evaluation to take place served to trigger the transformation of the suspension from a temporary one into the indefinite one now in place.