Kelly Mathis’ record on The Florida Bar website shows the legal battle he has been in for four years.
The word “suspended” is in blue type on the left side, while “Not Eligible to Practice Law in Florida” is in red on the right, directly above Mathis’ photo.
Those declarations are the result of his October 2013 conviction in the Allied Veterans of the World case, in which prosecutors said he was the mastermind of a $3 million gambling ring.
Mathis, who represented Allied Veterans, was sentenced to six years but allowed to remain free on bond pending his appeal.
His conviction was overturned three years later by the 5th District Court of Appeal. This month, the Attorney General’s Office decided not to pursue a second trial.
Brian Tannebaum, Mathis’ Bar attorney, filed documents last week to get his client’s law license back and his record expunged, the latter of which would be unusual.
The Bar doesn’t object to either request.
Tannebaum said the Bar could have conducted its own investigation after prosecutors decided not to refile the case against Mathis.
Instead, the Bar and Mathis sought a joint stipulation for dismissal.
Fourth Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Mark Mahon — who serves as the referee in the disciplinary matter — accepted the joint request and asked the Florida Supreme Court to dismiss the case against Mathis “with all deliberate speed” and reinstate his law license.
Tannebaum said he wasn’t surprised about the joint stipulation for dismissal because the Bar has been closely monitoring the case due to the allegations that Mathis was prosecuted for giving legal advice.
It’s difficult to say how long the Supreme Court might take to decide on the request after it’s placed on the docket.
“I’ve seen the court rule on it in a week, and I’ve seen it take several weeks,” Tannebaum said.
But, he said he doesn’t see any reason the court wouldn’t adopt Mahon’s report, especially because the Bar does not want to proceed.
Tannebaum said having a Bar record expunged is rare because of the notion that the public has a right to know about an attorney’s disciplinary history. That’s why the Bar posts those records on floridabar.org.
“If there’s that sense the public has right to know, that could be a factor,” Tannebaum said.
The Mathis case is the first expungement request filed by Tannebaum, whose website says he has represented more than 50 attorneys in Bar disciplinary hearings before the court.
But even if Mathis’ Bar record is expunged and those blue and red declarations are removed from the file, the internet is filled with mentions of the Allied Veterans case.
“It’s almost impossible to put the genie back into the bottle,” Tannebaum said. “But whatever can be done is important to do.”
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