TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) — Fort Pierce attorney Joseph John Mancini, practicing in Florida for 34 years, will be publicly reprimanded by publication in the Southern Reporter following a March 1 Florida Supreme Court order over allegations arising from two cases, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"Mancini did not diligently handle two cases," the state bar said in its April 30 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order. "In one instance he failed to adequately communicate with the client, causing the client to receive an order to pay the opposing party's attorney fees. After being retained in another matter, Mancini did little work. He failed to return the client's phone calls and emails, and he failed to timely respond to a bar inquiry."
Mancini also will be placed on three years' probation, be required to sign a Florida Lawyers Assistance program contract, according to the high court's order. In its single-page order, the state high court approved a the consent judgment filed with the court before reprimanding Mancini and ordered him to pay about $1,250 in costs. The consent judgment also included Mancini's conditional guilty plea.
Florida court orders are not final until time to file a rehearing motion expires. Filing such a motion would not alter the date of the Mancini's reprimand.
Mancini was admitted to the bar in Florida on Jan. 19, 1984, according to his profile at the state bar website.
The high court's order was Mancini's second public reprimand in less than seven years. Mancini was publicly reprimanded following a July 2011 state Supreme Court order. In that single page order, the high court approved an uncontested referee's report filed in the matter before reprimanding Mancini over allegations arising from multiple client matters. Mancini was alleged to have violated rules of professional conduct including those governing diligence and abuse of the legal process. Mancini also was ordered to pay about $1,995 in costs in that reprimand.