TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) – Tampa attorney M. Lynn Pope has been suspended for the third time in less than two years following an April 26 Florida Supreme Court order over allegations she failed to comply with requirements in a previous suspension, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"Pope was held in contempt of the court’s May 31, 2018, order for failing to notify clients, opposing counsel and tribunals of her suspension," the state bar said in its May 30 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, found Pope in contempt and, as a sanction, suspended Pope for three years. Pope already was suspended, which meant the court's sanction was effective immediately.
The high court also ordered Pope 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 most recent suspension.
Pope was admitted to the bar in Florida on May 21, 1987, according to her profile on the state bar website. Prior to her January suspension, Pope had no disciplinary record before the state bar, according to her profile and an uncontested referee's report filed with the court.
Pope was suspended in May of last year after being found in contempt for noncompliance with a previous suspension order issued the previous January when she allegedly failed to timely provide the state bar a sworn affidavit listing everyone she had informed of her suspension.
Pope was suspended for six months the previous January following a court order after she allegedly filed "non-meritorious and unintelligible motions" in her divorce case with her former husband.
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 judges' 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.