TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) — Winter Park attorney Christopher Hart Morrison has been publicly reprimanded by publication following an Oct. 10 Florida Supreme Court order over his partner's alleged trust account irregularities, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
Morrison also is on two-year probation and must attend a trust accounting workshop, according to the state bar's Oct. 24 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order.
"After receiving notification of insufficient funds in Morrison’s trust account, the bar initiated an audit that revealed numerous technical trust account violations, as well as shortages caused by Morrison’s law partner," the announcement said. "The partner was responsible for handling the firm’s administrative and financial affairs, and Morrison was unaware of the shortages until the bar's involvement."
In its single-page order, the Supreme Court approved the consent judgment reached between Morrison and the state bar and ordered him to pay a little more than $5,061 in costs. The consent judgment also included Morrison's conditional guilty plea.
The public reprimand will be administered by publication in Southern Reporter. Morrison's probation, governed by the terms agreed to in the consent judgment, was effective immediately, according to the Supreme Court's order. 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 Miller's public reprimand.
Morrison, a 1990 Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law graduate who practices family law in the Winter Park area, was admitted to the bar in Florida on May 24, 1990, according to his profile at the state bar website. No prior discipline before the state bar is listed on his bar profile.