Attorney Suspended for Representation with Conflicts of Interest--Summarized by Student Donna Munesisoumang

http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2010/sc05-1145.pdf
In Fla. Bar v. Scott, 39 So. 3d 309 (Fla. 2010), the Florida Supreme court suspended attorney, William Sumner Scott from the practice of law and ordered him to reimburse the Bar for its cost. The court found that Scott engaged in unethical conduct when he undertook a representation when he either knows or should know of a conflict of interest prohibiting the representation. In 1995, Scott represented a client and his company in a complaint that alleged the defendants violated the registration provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act, 7 U.S.C. §§1-27f (1994), and CFTC Regulations, 17 C.F.R. §§ 1-199 (1995). The court issued preliminary injunction orders which became permanent in 1997, that prohibited the Maseri and Private Research, Inc., from contracting for the sale of any commodity. In 1998, the client hired Scott to represent him in negotiations with an investor to establish a forex brokerage company called, International Currency Exchange Corporation, (ICEC). The investor questioned Scott about his client’s integrity. Scott failed to reveal to the investor the negative information he had concerning the client that could have impacted the investor’s decision to go into business with the client. In November of 1998, the federal court entered a final judgment against the client. Florida’s District Court froze ICEC assets until released by court. Scott was retained to represent ICEC and the investor. Consequently, the interests ICEC, the client, the investor, and other individual investors were all directly adverse to one another because all had claims to the same pool of money. This case presents issues that arise regarding an attorney’s unethical conduct due to conflicts of interest. It teaches the importance of the attorney’s duty under Rule 4-1.7(a) providing that an attorney shall not represent a client if the representation of that client will be directly adverse to the interests of another client. It is also important for the attorney to comply under Rule 4-1.9(a) providing that an attorney shall not represent a client or shall withdraw where the representation will result in violation of the rules of professional conduct or law.