Frank Brenner, Sarasota

When I began the practice of law in 1951, it was a learned profession. Not so today. It has largely disintegrated into a business. In “the good old days,” shame existed as a brake on questionable conduct. Nothing was more important to lawyers than the high regard of their peers.

To gauge the decline, witness the fact that attorney Andrea Mogensen for years has given office space to and teamed up with Michael Barfield in the active pursuit of Sunshine Law violations and, specifically, the attorneys’ fees awarded to successful plaintiffs.

Ms. Mogensen, of course, violates no law by embracing an individual who, by his own sworn testimony, has admitted to 68 (no typo) criminal convictions and who was characterized as “a con man’s con man” by the federal judge who sentenced him to 10 years in prison for conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury before a federal grand jury and two counts of wire fraud. The first three convictions involved the concocting of a corrupt scheme intended to force the recusal of a federal judge from a pending case. The latter two involved a promise by Barfield that for $50,000 he would obtain leniency for two felons awaiting sentencing. The money was paid.  The promise, of course, was a scam.  63 to go.

Michael Barfield, a high school dropout with a G.E.D., operating out of Ms. Mogensen’s office, has for years labeled himself a “legal consultant” and “paralegal.”  He is not an attorney. Nor is he a Florida registered paralegal. His felony convictions render him ineligible for registration, even assuming he could meet the education requirements.

Ms. Mogensen is aware of Mr. Barfield’s unsavory past.  She may justify her association with him by reliance on the cliché that “he has paid his debt to society.”  However, that cliché simply means that he has served his time.  Nothing more.  It does not mean that he left prison reformed. Indeed, 68 convictions suggest otherwise. Ms. Mogensen might well reassess her collaboration with Mr. Barfield in light of the adage “He who lies down with dogs rises with fleas.”

Frank Brenner, Sarasota