TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) — Tampa attorney M. Lynn Pope has again been suspended following a May 31 Florida Supreme Court order after being found in contempt for noncompliance with a previous suspension order, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"Specifically, Pope was required to notify her clients, opposing counsel and tribunals of her suspension and provide the bar within 30 days, a sworn affidavit listing the names and addresses of all persons and entities that were furnished a copy of her suspension order," the state bar said in its July 31 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order.
In its two-page order, the Supreme Court granted the state bar's petition for contempt and order to show cause, filed in April, and suspended Pope for one year. Pope already was suspended, which meant the high court's latest suspension order was effective immediately. Pope also was ordered to pay $1,250 in costs.
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 Pope's suspension.
Pope was admitted to the bar in Florida on May 21, 1987, according to her profile at the state bar website. Prior to her January suspension, Pope had no disciplinary record before the state bar, according to her profile and the uncontested referee's report filed with the court.
Four judges who presided over Pope's divorce offered testimony during the state bar's six-day hearing in her disciplinary matter, according to the referee's report. The judge's testimony included details about Pope's motions to disqualify all of them. Pope also filed a motion to disqualify the referee in the state bar's proceedings "after a ruling that was not to [Pope]'s liking," the referee’s report said.
Pope alleged the judges and attorneys in her divorce case "were perpetrators of fraud," she "misrepresented on the record during her divorce case that opposing counsel was snickering and laughing" and she did not focus on the complaint issues filed by The Florida Bar," the report said.