A Florida attorney convicted for his Jan. 6 participation asked for a form of disbarment

Source: Miami Herald

A Florida attorney convicted for his Jan. 6 participation asked for a form of disbarment

David J. Neal
Fri, March 8, 2024 at 9:57 AM EST·2 min read

A year after a Florida lawyer finished his sentence for participation in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol he asked to leave the Florida Bar.

What Michael Stepakoff, a bar member since 1990, requested and received was disciplinary revocation, which the state Supreme Court says is “tantamount to disbarment.”

The Florida Bar discipline case against Stepakoff after his J6-related conviction goes away. In return, Stepakoff is out of the bar for at least five years. His disciplinary revocation comes with permission to reapply for readmission.

Attorneys petitioning for disciplinary revocation usually plan on leaving the profession anyway or expect to be disbarred, so just want to save the time and expense of going through the discipline case. There would’ve been some punitive action against Stepakoff, but his crime was neither violent nor costly (restitution was $500) and his sentence wasn’t prison, but a year on probation.

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/florida-attorney-convicted-jan-6-145757676.html