Mr Barrett accepted a $7,500.00 from me, my sister and my son to represent us in a lawsuit. He filed the suit and, despite repeated requests by me that he do so, failed to serve the defendants until the statute of limitations had run, thus costing us a potential million-dollar plus verdict.

After this, he ignored something like nineteen attempts by me to contact him by e-mail and signed for, then did not respond to, a registered letter -- while all the time, refusing to provide an accounting of the fees he had taken from my family. In my opinion, this was theft.

In the end, he did not contest the report filed by the Bar Association's referee that he had violated nine ethical rules of the Florida Bar:

4-1.3 That he pursue a client's interests with diligence
4-1.4 That he communicate with is clients
5-1.1 (a)(1) that he not commingle clients' trust accounts eith his own funds
5-1.1(b) That he use clients' money for the specific purpose for which the client paid the money
5-1.1(e) That he account for funds paid by the client
5-1.2(b)(5) That he keep a record of cash receipts and disbursements having to do with clients' funds
5-1.2(b)96) That he keep a ledger of clients' funds
5-1.2(c)(1)(A) That he reconcile bank statements of clients' funds
5-1.2(c)(2) That he keep an annual balance for each client

Although some of these accounting rules may seem trivial, what John did with our funds was far from trivial. He took our money, did not spend it for the purposes for which we had paid it, and broke off all contact with us. Whatever John had in mind, to me what he did looks a lot more than bad accounting. It looks like theft.

Walking away from our case so that we lost what John had assured us was a viable claim is not trivial in anybody's book. I cannot imagine anything a lawyer could do to a client that would be a more grievous ethical breach than this. In my opinion, a 2-year probation was a slap of the wrist. I think he should have been disbarred.