TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) — Miami attorney Armando Gustavo Hernandez faces suspension following a Nov. 14 Florida Supreme Court order over allegations he ginned up legal work outside his law firm, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"While working as an associate at a law firm, Hernandez represented clients outside the firm and misrepresented the truth when he was confronted by two partners," the state bar said in its Nov. 26 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order. "He also deleted, exported and altered files related to the outside cases that were stored on the firm’s system."
In its two-page order, the Supreme Court approved the uncontested referee's report filed in the matter before suspending Hernandez for six months and ordering him to pay nearly $1,250 in costs.
Hernandez's suspension was effective 30 days from the date of the court's order to allow him time to close out his practice and protect his existing clients' interests, according to the high 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 Hernandez's suspension.
Hernandez was admitted to the bar in Florida on Sept. 30, 2010, according to his profile at the state bar website. No prior discipline before the state bar is listed on his state bar profile.
He became an associate in Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell's Miami office in 2010 following an internship the previous years, according to the consent judgment reached between Hernandez and the state bar. The consent judgment also includes Hernandez's conditional guilty plea.
"From 2013 to 2017, [Hernandez] represented, worked on and referred matters to other attorneys outside of Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell, which were generated entirely through his personal relationships and unrelated to the Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell clientele," the consent judgment said.
In February 2017, two Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell partners approached Hernandez about the work outside the firm and gave him a week to withdraw from those cases.
Two months later Hernandez took a deposition in one of the outside cases and subsequently lied about it to a Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell partner.
Hernandez was fired from the firm in June 2017.