The Florida Bar v. Kaiser, 58189
| Decision Date | 30 April 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 58189,58189 |
| Citation | 397 So.2d 1132 |
| Parties | THE FLORIDA BAR, Petitioner, v. Gerald KAISER, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Leonard H. Gilbert, President, The Florida Bar, Tampa, John F. Harkness, Jr., Executive Director and Stanley A. Spring, Staff Counsel, Tallahassee, Ronald R. Richmond, Chairman, Standing Committee on Unauthorized Practice of Law, New Port Richey, and Bill Hoppe, Bar Counsel, Miami, for petitioner.
Jerome Bill Ullman, Miami, for respondent.
Kaiser has been charged by The Florida Bar with the unauthorized practice of law. A referee appointed by the Court has received evidence and heard testimony on the bar's complaint and has concluded that Kaiser is guilty of the misconduct with which he is charged. Kaiser asks us to review the referee's findings and his recommended punishment, and to vacate both.
Gerald Kaiser is a New York attorney who maintains an interstate law firm in several states, including an office in Miami, Florida. His practice is limited to immigration and naturalization matters. He is not a member of The Florida Bar, although a resident partner of the firm in the Miami office is a Florida attorney. Neither The Florida Bar nor the referee have suggested that Kaiser can or should be restricted in any way from practicing naturalization or immigration law in this state even though he is not a member of The Florida Bar, see Sperry v. The Florida Bar, 373 U.S. 379, 83 S.Ct. 1322, 10 L.Ed.2d 428 (1963), and nothing in this opinion should be construed as suggesting otherwise.
The unauthorized law practice with which Kaiser is charged is the advertisement in the Miami telephone books over the past two years, and on television and in newspapers, of his availability as an attorney the implication being that he is authorized to practice law in Florida. Although presented with evidence that the placement of listings in the telephone books was the responsibility of the telephone company and not Kaiser's, the referee determined, nonetheless, that Kaiser was responsible for advertisements suggesting he is a Florida attorney, with no distinguishing limitations as to his membership in the New York bar or his limited area of practice. Accordingly, the referee found Kaiser guilty of the unauthorized practice of law, directed that he be enjoined from any form of advertising by newspaper, television or otherwise which would tend to mislead the public into believing that he was a member of The Florida Bar or authorized to practice in the state, and imposed on Kaiser the...
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AMENDMENTS REGULATING BAR-ADVERTISING
...Florida by lawyers admitted in other jurisdictions is prohibited as the unlicensed practice of law. For example, in Florida Bar v. Kaiser, 397 So.2d 1132, 1133 (Fla.1981), the referee found a New York attorney guilty of the unauthorized practice of law for implying in telephone-book, televi......
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Haymond v. Statewide Grievance Committee
...in Informal Opinion 95-2 has construed advertising as being encompassed within the restriction of Rule 7.5(b). In The Florida Bar v. Kaiser, 397 So.2d 1132, 1133-34 (Fla.1981), an attorney not admitted in Florida who deceptively advertised that he was subjected himself to censure for practi......
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In re Trester
...pay registration and CLE fees and to report CLE hours and failing to tell clients that his license was suspended); cf. The Florida Bar v. Kaiser, 397 So.2d 1132 (1981) (New York attorney practiced immigration and naturalization matters out of Florida; injunction was issued to prohibit attor......
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Gould v. Harkness
...this argument persuasive as it is consistent with the rulings of the Florida Supreme Court. For instance, in Florida. Bar v. Kaiser, 397 So.2d 1132, 1133 (Fla.1981), the defendant, who was a member of the New York bar but not of the Florida bar, advertised his availability as an attorney in......
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Ethics of lawyer social networking.
...Birbrower, Montalbano, Condon & Frank, P.C. v. Superior Court, 949 P.2d 1, 6 (Cal. 1998). (91) Id.; see also Florida Bar v. Kaiser, 397 So.2d 1132, 1133 (Fla. 1981) (finding a New York lawyer engaged in unauthorized practice of law when he advertised his law firm in Miami telephone book......