TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) — Longboat Key attorney Daniel Warren Morse Jr. has been indefinitely suspended following a July 2 Florida Supreme Court order over allegations of misappropriation and his conviction on theft charges earlier this year, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"According to a petition for emergency suspension, Morse appeared to be causing great public harm based on his misappropriation of at least $31,000 in client funds," the state bar said in its July 31 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order.
In its four-page order, the court granted the state bar's petition for emergency suspension and suspended Morse, effective 30 days from the date of the court's order. Morse was alleged to have violated professional conduct rules regarding conduct involving trust accounts and dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation, according to the petition.
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 Morse's suspension.
Morse was admitted to the bar in Florida on Aug. 30, 2013, according to his profile at the state bar website. No prior discipline before the state bar is listed on Morse's state bar profile.
In January, Morse was convicted on three counts of "theft (embezzlement)" in Milwaukee County Circuit Court in Wisconsin and in April was sentenced to probation and community service, according to the state bar's 119-page petition.
A state bar auditor found between Jan. 1, 2014 and June 9, 2015, Morse made more than $40,000 in unauthorized disbursements from an estate he represented to his personal account, his firm's operating account "and to cash which he used for his own purposes," the petition said. The auditor calculated that with credit for Morse's work as attorney and personal representative, he misappropriated at least $31,867.11 in client funds from his trust account, according to the petition.
The state bar's petition asked the state Supreme Court to authorize any referee appointed in the proceedings against Morse to determine entitlement to funds in any trust account frozen as a result of any order entered in this matter.