Facts
- David A. Barrett was the senior and managing partner of Barrett, Hoffman, and Hall, P.A. (BH&H) in Tallahassee, Florida.
- Barrett hired Chad Everett Cooper, an ordained minister, as a “paralegal,” but Cooper’s primary job was to bring in new clients for BH&H.
- Barrett instructed Cooper to get clients and offered heavy financial incentives, including a salary around $20,000 and bonuses that often exceeded the salary; Barrett also promised Cooper $100,000 for bringing in a “large case.”
- To enable in-person solicitation in restricted hospital areas, Barrett formed a plan for Cooper to gain access to emergency rooms and similar areas by appearing to serve in a ministerial role.
- Barrett paid for Cooper to attend a hospital chaplain’s course at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital so Cooper could enter areas that were not open to the public.
- In March 1994, Molly Glass’s son was critically injured in an automobile-related incident while riding his bicycle and was treated in the hospital (including intensive-care treatment).
- Cooper went to the hospital dressed in clothing resembling a pastor, identified himself as a chaplain, and offered to pray with the Glass family.
- During that encounter, Cooper gave a member of the Glass family the business card of Eric Hoffman (a BH&H partner) and suggested contacting the firm, even though neither Cooper nor the firm had any prior relationship with the Glass family.
- After the child died, Glass retained BH&H in a wrongful-death matter that was eventually settled.
- Over time, Cooper solicited at least 21 other clients for BH&H, and he received significant payments tied to case outcomes.
- Barrett later fired Cooper because he feared the firm’s conduct would be discovered; however, Cooper continued to bring clients to Barrett even after being fired.
- The Florida Bar filed a disciplinary complaint against Barrett. A referee found Barrett guilty of multiple rule violations, including improper solicitation, improper payments to a nonlawyer connected to obtaining clients, and deceitful conduct.
- The referee recommended a one-year suspension. The Bar sought review, arguing disbarment was warranted, and Barrett cross-sought review, contending a short suspension (about 21 days) was sufficient.
Issues
- Whether the Florida Supreme Court should approve the referee’s findings and recommendations as to guilt that Barrett violated the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar through improper solicitation, improper financial arrangements with a nonlawyer tied to client procurement, and dishonest or deceitful conduct.
- Whether the appropriate sanction for Barrett’s planned, repeated use of a nonlawyer minister posing as a chaplain to solicit accident victims and their families is a one-year suspension, a short suspension, or disbarment.
Decision
- The court approved the referee’s findings of fact and recommendations as to guilt.
- The court rejected the referee’s recommended one-year suspension as too lenient.
- The court disbarred Barrett from the practice of law in Florida.
Legal Principles
- A lawyer may not solicit professional employment through in-person contact with accident victims or their families when there is no prior relationship, and the lawyer may not accomplish prohibited solicitation through a nonlawyer intermediary.
- A lawyer may not compensate a nonlawyer in a manner tied to obtaining clients or sharing in legal fees, including payments that function as rewards for client procurement.
- Conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation violates professional standards; using a religious guise to gain access to vulnerable people for client recruitment is such misconduct.
- In lawyer-discipline cases, the Florida Supreme Court gives deference to a referee’s factual findings when supported by competent, substantial evidence, but it independently determines the appropriate sanction.
- Disbarment is appropriate when a lawyer knowingly plans and carries out repeated dishonest solicitation conduct that seriously reflects on fitness to practice and threatens public trust in the legal profession.
Conclusion
In Florida Bar v. Barrett, the Florida Supreme Court held that Barrett knowingly orchestrated and financed a deceptive plan in which a paid nonlawyer minister, presented as a hospital chaplain, approached injured patients and their families to steer them to Barrett’s firm; the Court approved the referee’s guilt findings but ruled that a suspension was insufficient and imposed disbarment.