In the Matter of Burnbaum, Michael W. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-188-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us SJC‑11352 IN THE MATTER OF MICHAEL W. BURNBAUM. November 14, 2013. Attorney at Law, Reciprocal discipline, Disbarment. Following his Federal felony drug conviction, the Supreme Court of Florida granted the petition of the respondent, Michael W. Burnbaum, for disciplinary resignation from the Florida bar. Approximately twelve years later, bar counsel petitioned, pursuant to S.J.C. Rule 4:01, § 16, as appearing in 425 Mass. 1319 (1997), for reciprocal discipline in Massachusetts. After a hearing, a single justice of this court ordered that the respondent be suspended for three years from the practice of law in Massachusetts. Bar counsel appeals. We conclude that the respondent should be disbarred. Background. The respondent was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts on June 7, 1977, and in Florida on November 27, 1984. In 1995, he was indicted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. He eventually pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), admitting that he had met with an incarcerated client and received from the client a map to a warehouse where 145 kilograms of cocaine were located. The respondent sent that map to another client by facsimile transmission. In June, 1999, the respondent was sentenced to a 105-month term of incarceration, with four years of supervised release to follow. The respondent did not report the conviction to bar counsel in Massachusetts. S.J.C. Rule 4:01, § 12 (8), as appearing in 425 Mass. 1313 (1997). On November 12, 1999, the Supreme Court of Florida allowed the respondent’s petition for disciplinary resignation, and granted him leave to seek readmission after five years.[1] The respondent did not report the discipline to the Board of Bar Overseers (board) or to bar counsel, as he was required to do by S.J.C. Rule 4:01, § 16 (6). After learning of the conviction and discipline in Florida, on November 23, 2011, bar counsel filed a notice of conviction and petition for reciprocal discipline in the county court. A single justice of this court suspended the respondent from the practice of law for three years, declining to apply the suspension retroactively to the date of his […]