Florida lawyer filed for disbarment. He’s accused of murdering his father the next day

Suspended Boca Raton attorney Brandon Labiner applied to be kicked out of the Florida Bar on Friday. On Saturday, Boca Raton police say Labiner barricaded himself in a commercial building on U.S. 1. By Sunday morning, Labiner was locked up in Palm Beach County jail on a charge of first-degree murder.

The person found dead, according to arrest paperwork publicly posted Wednesday: Paul Labiner, a trusts and estates lawyer, and Brandon’s father and former law firm partner.

Brandon Labiner, 34, is being held in Palm Beach County jail without bond on the murder charge and on a warrant out of Broward County concerning a DUI charge.

Boca Raton police officially say the dead man’s identity is being withheld after the invoking of Marsy’s Law, which allowed victim’s or their families to keep identities from being public.

But the arrest paperwork said Brandon’s sister and her husband suspected Brandon was the murder suspect because “Brandon and (redacted) had a bad relationship due to a legal battle they have been involved in regarding their law firm.”

Also, the department said the victim, who was shot four times, was found in a breezeway near the parking garage at 5499 N. Federal Hwy. In Suite K of that building are the Law Offices of Paul Labiner.

Brandon Labiner has been under emergency suspension since April 18, when the state Supreme Court agreed with the Florida Bar about $451,000 missing from a trust account set up for Brandon’s mother, Mindy Labiner. That trust was set up by Mindy’s husband, Paul Labiner, who made the Florida Bar complaint alleging Brandon stole the money. Then, father sued son.

READ MORE: Florida lawyer accused of swiping $450,000 from mother’s trust says father stole from him

Suspension and disciplinary revocation

With that Bar discipline case and another one involving the Broward DUI case, Brandon Labiner filed his application on Friday for disciplinary revocation with leave to apply for readmission in five years.

Disciplinary revocation is, as the state Supreme Court says, “tantamount to disbarment.” The professional ethics cases disappear. In return, the attorney is booted from the Bar and unable to practice as an attorney. If given permission to apply for readmission, that ejection will last five years. Nothing happens to the criminal or civil court matters arising from the attorney’s behavior.

The disciplinary revocation application specifically states Brandon Labiner doesn’t admit professional ethics guilt in either the misappropriation funds case nor the DUI case.

He maintained his innocence in the former when speaking to the Miami Herald in April. Brandon claimed his father who stole $454,727 from him to cover what bookkeeper Janet Blissett embezzled from November 2021 through January 2022, according to a criminal complaint.

Paul Labiner was being sued in Palm Beach County by related clients who say Blissett stole $1,792,930.00 from one trust, $691,800 from another trust and $46,000 from a third trust. Paul Labiner had filed a civil suit against Blissett in Palm Beach County. She was being charged criminally in New Jersey federal court.