TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) — Goldenrod attorney Jacqueline Marie Kinsella, practicing in Florida for about two years, has been suspended following a Feb. 15 Florida Supreme Court order after she was charged with grand theft, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"Kinsella was charged with grand theft, a felony, and two counts of petty larceny, misdemeanors," the state bar said in its March 27 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order. "She was convicted of one misdemeanor count of petty larceny, reduced from the felony, where she entered a no contest plea for stealing money from cash registers on three separate occasions at a department store where she was employed as a non-attorney."
Kinsella's suspension, until further order, was effective 30 days from the date of the court's order.
The state bar had urged a "91-day rehabilitative suspension", according to the order. The court considered "the gravity of the uncontested findings of guilt" and ordered Kinsella to show cause "why the referee's recommended sanction should not be disapproved and a more severe sanction, up to and including disbarment, be imposed," the order said.
The state Supreme Court's two-page order is not final until after time to file a rehearing motion expires. Filing such a motion would not alter the effective date of the Kinsella's suspension.
Kinsella was admitted to the bar in Florida on Feb. 16, 2016, according to her profile at the state bar website. No prior discipline before the state bar is listed on Kinsella's state bar profile.
On May 11, 2016, less than three months after she was admitted to the bar in Florida, Kinsella was arrested on for allegedly stealing from three cash registers on three separate occasions at a department store where she worked as a non-attorney, according to the state bar's initial brief filed this past August.
Kinsella entered her no contest plea the following September, according to the brief.
"[Kinsella] admitted she took the funds from her employer due to her financial debt problems," the brief said. "These financial problems existed at the time she applied for membership in The Florida Bar and were also the subject of inquiry by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners. Her financial problems continue to present."