Title: The Florida Bar v. Jones
Citation: 571 So. 2d 426
Docket Number: 74422
State: Florida
Issuer: Florida Supreme Court
Date: November 29, 1990

571 So. 2d 426 (1990)
THE FLORIDA BAR, Complainant,
v.
Eric R. JONES, Respondent.
No. 74422.

Supreme Court of Florida.
November 29, 1990.
John F. Harkness, Jr., Executive Director, John T. Berry, Staff Counsel, and John A. Boggs, Director of Lawyer Regulation, Tallahassee, and John B. Root, Jr., Bar Counsel, Orlando, for complainant.
Eric R. Jones, in pro. per.
PER CURIAM.
We have for review the petition of The Florida Bar requesting review of a referee's recommendation in a disciplinary proceeding against the respondent for practicing law while suspended. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 15, Fla. Const.
The referee made the following findings:
(Transcript references omitted.)
The referee recommended that respondent be found in contempt of the suspension order of this Court. He found that respondent violated the following Rules of Discipline:
(a) 3-5.1(e) by continuing to practice law while properly suspended;
(b) 3-5.1(h) by failing to furnish a copy of the suspension order to all of his clients with matters pending in his practice; and by failing to furnish staff counsel of The Florida Bar within 30 days after service of the suspension order a sworn affidavit listing the names and addresses of all clients who have been furnished copies of the order; and
(c) 3-6.1(c) by continuing to have direct client contact and by giving legal advice to clients while suspended from practicing law.
The referee also found that respondent violated the following Rules of Professional Conduct:
(a) 4-3.3(a)(1) by knowingly making a false statement of material fact to a tribunal; and
(b) 4-8.4(c) by engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.
The referee recommended that respondent's ninety-one-day suspension be extended for an additional two years. The Bar contends that respondent should be disbarred because of the seriousness of his misconduct. Although respondent appeared on his own behalf at the evidentiary hearing before the referee, he has submitted nothing in response to the referee's report and recommendation or to the Bar's petition for review now before the Court.
We agree with the Bar that disbarment is the appropriate discipline in this case. See The Florida Bar v. Bauman, 558 So. 2d 994 (Fla. 1990) (lawyer disbarred for engaging in five distinct acts of practicing law while suspended). Respondent failed to comply with this Court's suspension order by engaging in the practice of law on numerous occasions after the effective date of his suspension. He failed to comply with the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar. In addition, respondent knowingly misrepresented his compliance with the suspension order in his Reply to the Petition to Show Cause filed with this Court. Therefore, we adopt the findings of the referee but disapprove the recommended penalty.
Respondent Eric R. Jones is hereby disbarred effective immediately and enjoined from the practice of law. Judgment for costs in the amount of $1,042.60 is hereby entered against the respondent, for which sum let execution issue.
It is so ordered.
*429 SHAW, C.J., and OVERTON, McDONALD, EHRLICH, BARKETT, GRIMES and KOGAN, JJ., concur.