Florida Bar, Supreme Court discipline 8 lawyers for misconduct

The Florida Bar and Florida Supreme Court have disciplined eight more lawyers after misconduct findings.

The most severe penalty was leveled against Michael Stephen Stanfield, a Jacksonville lawyer who had his license revoked. A Florida Bar news release said Stanfield had four disciplinary cases centered on client neglect and a misdemeanor conviction for reckless driving. The earliest he can reapply is 30 days following the revocation order.

Six lawyers were suspended after review of their cases involving misconduct.

Shirley Linette Bates of Tallahassee was suspended for a year. She failed to adequately communicate with clients and engaged in “dishonest conduct” in four separate cases involving civil suits and post-conviction issues along with other misconduct.

Ariel Elise Mitchell of Miami was suspended for 75 days and ordered to attend an Ethics School and Professionalism Workshop. She was also directed to pay the Bar’s disciplinary costs after she made factually incorrect statements to a court judicial assistant and to the media regarding the Bar’s investigation into her misconduct case.

Brian Robert Pingor of Clearwater was suspended for 91 days for failing to report a felony charge and misdemeanor conviction he received in 2021. He was charged with violation of a risk protection order and for possessing firearms and ammunition in violation of an order filed against him by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. He was also charged with a misdemeanor DUI with property damage, to which he pleaded no contest with a reduced charge of reckless driving.

Karmika Victoria Rubin of St. Petersburg was suspended from practice for 30 days and ordered to attend the Bar’s Trust Accounting Workshop. Her discipline was related to neglecting her clients’ cases and failure to adequately communicate with clients.

Halford George Schuhmacher of Marathon was suspended for 10 days with a public reprimand after he failed to appear at multiple court hearings for clients.

Michael B. Halla of Lancaster, Texas, had his Florida law license suspended for two years after a conviction of criminally negligent homicide. He was operating a vehicle at excessive speed when he struck and killed two people who were crossing a roadway in Texas.

The final lawyer, Max Richard Price Jr. of Miami, received a public reprimand for a dispute over a co-counsel legal fee in a civil case settlement.