Title: The Florida Bar v. Lugo-Rodriguez
Citation: 317 So. 2d 721
Docket Number: 44006
State: Florida
Issuer: Florida Supreme Court
Date: July 30, 1975

317 So. 2d 721 (1975)
THE FLORIDA BAR, Petitioner,
v.
Aguedo LUGO-RODRIGUEZ, Respondent.
No. 44006.

Supreme Court of Florida.
July 30, 1975.
Alfred D. Bieley, Miami, Leonard Rivkind, Miami Beach, David W. Walters, Miami, Richard C. McFarlain, Asst. Director, and William B. Wiley, Asst. Staff Counsel, Tallahassee, for petitioner.
Melvyn Kessler, Miami, for respondent.
PER CURIAM.
This cause is before us on the petition of The Florida Bar filed pursuant to Article XVI of the Integration Rule and charging Respondent with the unauthorized practice of law. Article II, Section 2, of the Integration Rule provides:
Our jurisdiction to prohibit the unauthorized practice of law stems from Article V, Section 15, Florida Constitution, which provides that this Court "shall have exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the admission of persons to the practice of law... ." This constitutional authority necessarily includes the power to prevent the unauthorized practice of law.[1]
We issued a Rule to Show Cause, to which Respondent filed his motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that this Court does not have jurisdiction to prohibit activities in this state constituting the practice of law in the field of immigration, naturalization and related matters, since that is an area which has been pre-empted by federal legislation. Briefs were filed by both parties, and upon consideration thereof this Court denied Respondent's *722 motion to dismiss. Thereafter, Respondent filed his answer, whereupon this Court appointed Judge Francis X. Knuck as Referee and directed that he should hold such hearings and take such testimony as might be necessary to establish the facts of the case. After a hearing the Referee entered the following findings of fact:
Additionally, the Referee made the following recommendations:
The record and the report of the Referee have been examined by this Court. We hereby approve the Referee's finding of guilt and agree that the foregoing conduct on Respondent's part constitutes the unauthorized practice of law. Furthermore, we adopt the Referee's other recommendations, find that Respondent is in contempt of this Court and assess a fine against him in the amount of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) to be paid on or before August 31, 1975, to be paid to the Clerk of this Court plus the costs of these proceedings in an amount to be assessed by The Florida Bar. It is further ordered that Respondent, Aguedo Lugo-Rodriguez, be and he hereby is permanently enjoined from engaging in the acts complained of and from otherwise engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.
It is so ordered.
ADKINS, C.J., and ROBERTS, BOYD, OVERTON and ENGLAND, JJ., concur.
[1]  State ex rel. Florida Bar v. Sperry, 140 So. 2d 587 (Fla. 1962), judgment vacated on other grounds 373 U.S. 379, 83 S. Ct. 1322, 10 L. Ed. 2d 428 (1963).