Supreme Court to suspend troubled attorneys

TAMPA (FOX 13) - The legal careers of three troubled attorneys may be over. "It is the beginning of the end and it may be a quick end to their careers as lawyers," explained attorney John Fitzgibbons.

This past summer, a judge found all three attorneys -- Stephen Diaco, Robert Adams, and Adam Filthaut -- guilty of setting up a rival attorney Phil Campbell for a DUI arrest.

The judge recommended all three be permanently disbarred and the Supreme Court has the final say.

But as it weighs the trio's fate, the high court announced today it plans to suspend all three attorneys from practicing law, unless they come up with a good reason why they shouldn't.
 
Fitzgibbons, who is Phil Campbell's attorney, says that's a tall order.

"The conduct of these three lawyers was reprehensible. It's as bad as I have ever seen as far as bad conduct or egregious conduct by lawyers," said Fitzgibbons.

The scandal unfolded nearly three years ago in the middle of a contentious trial between two radio stars.
 
Retired Pinellas County Judge Douglas Baird determined all three used their legal assistant to flirt and have drinks with Campbell, and used their connections with a Tampa police DUI sergeant to have Campbell arrested.

"They shouldn't be lawyers, they shouldn't practice law, and they should be stripped of their law license," added Fitzgibbons.