TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) — Longtime Oviedo attorney Natt Owen Reifler has been publicly reprimanded by publication following an Aug. 22 Florida Supreme Court order over trust account issues, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"Reifler self-reported that his former firm's trust accounts were not in substantial compliance with the rules regulating The Florida Bar," the state bar said in its Aug. 29 announcement of the discipline and the state Supreme Court's order. "While listed as a partner of the firm, Reifler was not a signatory on the trust accounts. He did not exercise reasonable diligence to determine the compliance of the firm's trust accounts."
Reifler's public reprimand was effective immediately and he will be required to attend ethics school, according to the state bar's announcement. 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 Reifler's reprimand.
Reifler was admitted to the bar in Florida on Sept. 27, 1995, according to his profile at the state bar website. No prior discipline before the state bar is listed on Reifler's state bar profile. Reifler practices law in Orange and Seminole counties, according to the state bar's complaint filed against Reifler with the Supreme Court in September 2018.
In January 2017, Reifler sent a letters to the state bar self reporting "that the trust accounts for his former law firm, the Law Offices of Palmer, Reifler & Associates, in which he was an associate and partner, were not in substantial compliance," with state bar rules, the complaint said. Reifler's self report included issues regarding also diligence, communication and safe-keeping of clients' funds in the trust accounts, according to the complaint.
Reifler self-reported after "he had received complaints from several clients that the firm was late in making payments to them," the complaint said. Those clients contacted him about the late payments in September 2016, the complaint said.