TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) — Longtime Tampa attorney Morris Joseph Fonte Jr. has been suspended following a June 14 Florida Supreme Court order regarding allegations he failed to properly supervise his no-nattorney employee, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"As president of a law group, Fonte permitted a situation to exist in which a non-lawyer employee held himself out as an attorney and engaged in the unlicensed practice of law," the state bar said in its July 31 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order. "The non-lawyer also signed Fonte's signature to paperwork without his permission or knowledge."
Fonte was president and director of the Cadillac Law Group in Tampa at the time of his misconduct, according to court documents.
In its two-page order, the state Supreme Court suspended Fonte for 90 days. Fonte's suspension was effective 30 days from the date of the court's order to allow him time to close his practice and protect his existing clients' interests, according to the high court's order. Fonte also was ordered to pay almost $1,515.
Florida court orders are not final until time to file a rehearing motion expires. Filing such a motion does not alter the effective date of Fonte's suspension.
Fonte was admitted to the bar in Florida on May 30, 1980, according to his profile at the state bar website.
Cadillac Law Group was founded in June 2014 by non-attorney Joseph Cannistra and attorney Patricia Horal, who left the group in October 2014 and was replaced by Fonte, according to the consent judgment filed with the court. The consent judgment also includes Fonte's conditional guilty plea.
"From October 2014 to March 2015, [Fonte] permitted a situation to exist whereby Mr. Cannistra was able to hold himself out as an attorney and engage in the unlicensed practice of law," the consent judgment said.
Fonte took no "affirmative action to attempt to prohibit Mr. Cannistra from engaging in the unlicensed practice of law," resigned from the group in March 2015, regrets his business relationship with Cannistra "and has since stopped practicing law," the consent judgment said.