TALLAHASSEE — Longtime Orlando attorney Frank J. Bankowitz III faces a reprimand following a Aug. 23 Florida Supreme Court order stemming from a client's post-conviction case, according to a recent announcement by the Florida Bar.
Bankowitz is "to be publicly reprimanded by publication," the state bar said in its Jan. 31 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order. Bankowitz was also ordered to pay $2,500 in restitution to one client and to complete the state bar's ethics program, according to the announcement.
"After being retained, Bankowitz failed to diligently pursue a client's post-conviction matter and failed to maintain adequate communication with the client," the announcement said.
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 Bankowitz's reprimand.
Bankowitz was admitted to the bar in Florida on Sept. 22, 1999, according to his profile at the state bar website. Bankowitz maintains a solo practice with an office on East Livingston Street in Orlando, according to information on his state bar profile.
The reprimand is Bankowitz's second in Florida. The first was in September 2015 after Bankowitz allegedly failed to pay the IRS funds he withheld from his employees’ wages for unemployment, Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from 2011 to 2013. He remitted a full payment of almost $30,000 IRS in February 2015, according to a state bar announcement at the time.
Bankowitz's tax issues resulted from hip replacement surgery, after which he developed a severe infection which caused him to be out of his office and not working for several months, according to the consent judgment filed with the court at the time. The consent judgment also includes Bankowitz's conditional guilty plea.
Bankowitz did not have a disciplinary record in Florida prior to his first reprimand, according to the consent judgment.