Leading a client to believe lawsuits had been filed when they hadn’t and acting as if a tumultuous month as a Broward public defender hadn’t happened led to a 180-day suspension of a Miami attorney by the state Supreme Court.
The court followed the recommendation of the case referee, 11th Circuit Judge Peter Lopez, concerning discipline for Willishia Plant. Lopez ruled that Plant ran afoul of professional ethics in diligence and communication, and committed “misconduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”
Plant’s suspension started Sept. 7.
According to Lopez’s referee’s report, Plant’s side argued for a 30-day suspension. Lopez recommended a suspension six times longer in part because he felt 30 days was too light after Plant showed a “lack of remorse evidenced by her evasive and inconsistent testimony and the lack of candor to the court in her testimony...”
Part of Plant’s “lack of candor” concerned the month between Plant’s hiring and her firing at the Broward Public Defender’s Office in 2020. The rest concerned a pair of cases she took on later that year for someone she’d known since her middle school years.
READ MORE: Tyreek Hill and officer who detained him may have both broken law, legal experts say
Business with friendsThe referee’s report stated: “There was general agreement by the parties as to the facts of the case,” and Plant “ultimately admitted she violated all but one of the rule violations alleged by the Bar.”
According to that report, Plant and Gabrielle Brown had known each other for 15 years when Plant became Brown’s attorney for two 2020 cases: an accident case involving Brown and her father, and a claim against a landlord concerning a deposit return. Plant had a similar deposit dispute with that landlord.
“While [Plant] first maintained that she was providing free legal advice only, she then testified that her representation for both matters was limited in scope,” the referee’s report said, while noting Plant included nothing in writing to Brown about any limitations.
In December 2020, Plant and Brown’s personal relationship disintegrated. Following the falling out, the referee’s report said, Plant “provided little, or misleading, information when she did respond” to Brown’s case update requests.
“Misleading information,” such as leading the Browns to believe either case had been filed. On March 8, 2021, a Plant text said the lawsuit had been “sent out,” and a May 19, 2021, email said it had been “submitted” and she was “waiting to get an answer from the opposing side.”
As far as the accident case, Plant, the referee’s report said, “provided a muddled explanation of the process of pursuing a personal injury claim, while never actually acknowledging that a suit had not been filed...”
In fact, when Brown fired Plant on Aug. 24, 2021, she sent Plant an email telling her to give new attorney Daniel Bonardi the case numbers, case numbers she clearly didn’t know didn’t exist.
During her disciplinary hearing before Lopez, Plant testified that she believed the landlord-tenant complaints had been filed and accepted by the clerk of the court. Lopez’s report pointed out there were records from the clerk returning the complaints for affidavit problems.
Also, as far as the “free legal advice” claim, Lopez noted that Plant later tried to get fees from the Browns by way of a lien. Plant eventually withdrew the lien.
Plant, who joined the Bar in September 2019, also claimed inexperience and “that her current position with Esquire Litigation Group was her first job after becoming a licensed attorney other than some minor contract work.”
That’s when the Bar shattered Plant’s credibility by pointing out Plant did a month with the Broward County Public Defender’s Office before being fired in February 2020.
The Bar argued that Plant committed perjury. Plant testified, the referee’s report said, that “she was not being deceptive but rather was suffering from a “deer in the headlights” response to the shock of the Public Defender chapter being resurrected.”
Lopez didn’t buy it.
He found the Bar’s action was a “proper impeachment on a collateral matter that bore directly on [Plant’s] credibility. [Plant’s] answers were inconsistent, generally evasive and showed a lack of candor, which, in this Court’s eyes, renders her testimony suspect and deserving of limited credibility.”
READ MORE: Incompetence among the many reasons a Palm Beach attorney got suspended
A month as a public employeePlant didn’t answer emails or phone calls from the Miami Herald asking about her time in the public defender’s office.
As required by all suspensions, Plant eliminated all her online references that she’s an attorney, including her LinkedIn profile. There’s a blank spot where Plant’s profile used to be on The Esquire Litigation Group’s website. Before disappearing, neither mentioned her time as a Broward County public defender.
Plant’s Broward Public Defender’s Office personnel file shows she started there Jan. 13, 2020, and resigned on Feb. 12, 2020, after being told she’d be fired.
The file includes a timeline of Plant’s month of employment by her supervisor, Chief Assistant Public Defender of the Misdemeanor Division Jennifer Edgeley.
Edgeley said Plant missed a Feb. 3 court date, necessitating Edgeley covering for her while knowing nothing about the cases. “Told her clients may have waived (the right to a speedy trial) unnecessarily because I didn’t have enough information about her cases and had to waive speedy on everything.”
Edgeley also wrote that Plant lied about being in urgent care that day. When Edgeley asked for a doctor’s note, Plant brought one in that didn’t list when she came into the doctor’s office. Edgeley asked for another one, but never received it.
A few days later, Edgeley wrote, six depositions had to be canceled because Plant, knowing she’d be out, hadn’t arranged for another public defender to cover for her until the day of the depositions.
Edgeley also wrote Plant was assigned on Jan. 21 to see a client who had been put on suicide watch. Edgeley wrote that she told Plant on Jan. 22 the client needed to be seen within 24 to 48 hours; to file a bond motion because he was being held only on one charge; and gave her a bond motion template as well as directions on how to argue the motion.
Plant’s personnel file included screenshots of a Feb. 7 text conversation with Edgeley during which the supervisor wrote, “Did you see him? He’s only being held on your case. Why hasn’t the bond motion been filed?”
After Plant answered that she “had plans to see him this week,” she asked if she should file the bond motion. Edgeley replied that she filed it herself and arranged for another attorney to see him.
When Edgeley and Plant discussed this three days later, Feb. 10, Edgeley wrote, “she did not express any concern for his well being. She did not understand the gravity of the situation. Instead, she made excuses and acted is if it didn’t matter that she didn’t see him because he was OK after all. She did not take responsibility for the fact that he was in custody only on this case without a visit or a court date.”
Edgeley also wrote that Plant got indignant about being asked about the replacement doctor’s note, telling Edgeley the request was “very preschool ... because she’s a grown woman and wouldn’t come in and lie to me.”
Upon being told she would be fired, Plant requested a meeting with then Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein.
Plant did not get any help from Finkelsteinsmbet, who listened to her, then told her she was being fired “due to her failure to take responsibility in her job performance. He told her she spent 11 minutes talking about herself and never mentioned any concern about the clients.”