MASSACHUSETTS COURT SEEKS TO SANCTION LAWYER WHO FAILED TO DISCLOSE COCAINE CONVICTION

Mr. Burnbaum leaving Federal Court in New York in 2011. 

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, that state's highest court, has notified attorney Michael Burnbaum that it intends to impose discipline upon him, after it learned that he had failed to advise the court that he had resigned from the Florida Bar in 2000, in lieu of disciplinary proceedings. Burnbaum was convicted in Federal Court in Miami of a narcotics charge, Conspiracy, with Intent to Distribute, Cocaine, and he was incarcerated for several years.

He apparently failed to notify Massachusetts of either his criminal conviction, or his Resignation in Florida, and last year he appeared, in Federal Court in New York, on behalf of a client, in a criminal case.* When the fact that he had a criminal conviction surfaced in open court, during that case, the Massachusetts Bar filed a Petition for Reciprocal Discipline**, and Notice of Conviction of a Serious Crime. The court in Massachusetts admitted the Florida disciplinary record into evidence in those proceedings.

The 30-day period for the Respondent to show cause why discipline should not be imposed expires in late June. We shall continue to keep our readers advised in this case.

_____________________________________________________________________
*Lawyer with Felony Conviction exposed Representing a Client in a Criminal Proceeding
**In Re: Michael W Burnbaum,  Case No.: BD-2011-121 (Mass. Sup. Jud. Ct. 2012).