Having sex with a client in a divorce case and ghosted her after sex was over was not the only reason a Fort Lauderdale lawyer was placed in a career timeout by the state Supreme Court.
Maurice Hinton has admitted to a series of ethical violations in his guilty plea accepted by the discipline case judge Oli Silver and the state Supreme Court. The petition should block Hinton from his lawyers’ business until February 12, 2027.
One of Hinton’s field trips outside of ethical boundaries involves playing a lawyer when he is suspended, so “should.”
Hinton became a member of Florida Bar in 2006.
Love and marriage, gender and divorce
Hinton was a partner in the name of Phillips and Hinton. Hinton was in the 2019 divorce case involving a Miami Gardens woman, according to Hinton’s guilty plea and court records. Hinton and the woman began a sexual relationship.
“After such a relationship ended, (Hinton) ignored the issue of disbandment and was unable to communicate with (the woman) on the issue,” the guilty plea reads.
The woman has rejected the divorce case and returned with her husband, but in this situation it’s no good to have sex with the client and cut off communication.
Probate Question
In October 2018, Hinton took a probate case, took money to handle the case, and “sue little or no litigation on the matter.”
The documents were signed in May 2019, but he did not file a lawsuit. The client hired another attorney in February 2020 to file a complaint with Barr. Hinton sent him back his fee. Hinton’s slow response in answering the Florida bar survey was suspended from March 18, 2021 to April 26, 2021, and from September 4, 2021 to December 7, 2021.
Bankruptcy has been abandoned
When Hinton filed for bankruptcy in October 2020, the client saw the error she wanted to handle. However, she couldn’t see Hinton. She acquired a new lawyer in April 2021.
Hinton’s imposing pace of response to the bar’s investigation stopped him on December 28th, 2021.
Talk legally from the order
On December 9, 2021, Hinton emailed the opposing lawyers in his partner’s case, not in his case. The next day there was “long scheduled deposits that the court needed.”
Hinton’s email stated, “His legal partner said he had a scheduling dispute and was unable to attend the deposit, apologized for the late notice and requested that the deposit be rescheduled.”
The judge in the case fumed to a bar in Florida: “Mr. Hinton… in this case he never filed a notice of appearance of the case, but still frustrated the acquisition of the deposit, defending the defendant in relation to the scheduled deposit among the suspended members of Florida.”
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Hinton’s suspension for his inaction during the probate case ended two days before the letter, but he had been suspended since September 21, 2021 because he has not been arrears to pay legal fees and on October 1, 2021, not paying bar fees.
That’s why this was counted as a lawyer during the suspension.
