Nothing But Flowers!

The Intrepid One™ breaks the bad news:

The court, in a 4-3 opinion, approved a petition for emergency suspension filed by The Florida Bar Dec. 22. The suspension means that Alters cannot accept new clients, must cease representing his current clients after 30 days and must freeze his trust accounts. The Supreme Court also appointed Joel Brown, chief judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, to referee Alters' disciplinary case and trial.

 But Alters says it is not his fault -- it is the fault of his ex-partners:

In responses filed with The Bar on Dec. 22 and Dec. 27, Berman states that Sullivan's allegations are "demonstrably false," however he acknowledges issues with the firm's trust account. In a 100-page response to The Bar, he lays out his explanations, which include detailed financial records, canceled checks, a CPA's report and a polygraph report.

Alters turned over management of the firm to a former partner, Kimberly Boldt, in July 2009 because he was overwhelmed handling litigation and with personal problems related to his mother becoming ill and his 12-year marriage falling apart. He also blames another former partner, Thomas Culmo, for failing to deliver a $1 million fee, throwing accounts into disarray.

Neither Boldt nor Culmo returned calls for comment. Both have sued Alters, claiming he owes them money.

In other happy holiday news, Rothstein says his ex-partners were "willing puppets":

In the seven days of testimony for which transcripts have been made public to date, Rothstein painted former law partners Stuart Rosenfeldt and Russell Adler as his willing puppets. When Rosenfeldt once asked about the firm's finances, Rothstein said he stopped his law partner's questioning by asking: "Are you happy with the amount of money you're making?"
As for Adler, he "wasn't the sharpest pencil in the box," Rothstein said, but added that Adler allegedly helped persuade several outside attorneys to meet with investors and lie to them about having referred big-dollar cases to Rothstein's firm.

Attorneys for Rosenfeldt and Adler flatly rejected Rothstein's claims, calling him a desperate imprisoned felon willing to say anything to reduce his punishment.

Having ex-partners -- the gift that keeps on giving.

Does anyone have any positive news to share?