Ex-Florida Supreme Court justice urges former colleagues to readmit disbarred Miami lawyer

William Castro, a permanently disbarred Florida attorney who was swept up in a Miami corruption scandal in the early 1990s, submitted a 51-page petition earlier this year seeking the right to practice law again.

But Florida’s Supreme Court justices didn’t even bother to consider it on the merits, striking his motion as “unauthorized” in May without giving a reason.

Castro, a once prominent criminal defense attorney, has now turned to a formidable colleague to make his final plea for readmission to the Florida Bar — Raoul Cantero, a former member of the state Supreme Court.

Cantero, who had met Castro at a Catholic retreat three decades ago, said he’s supporting him because he has personally witnessed his transformation from a flashy lawyer to a humble man who has done thousands of hours of community service, worked as an advocate for at-risk children, organized gift drives for migrant children and led church retreats. He and his wife also adopted three children.

“I’ve always been impressed with the change he made in his life,” said Cantero, who was appointed as a justice to the Florida Supreme Court by then-Gov. Jeb Bush in 2002 and served until 2008. “I know that his turnaround was not only remarkable but also genuine. ... I do believe in rehabilitation and I do believe in redemption.”

For Castro, who in December received the “Lex Christi, Lex Amoris” award that is given to legal professionals who exemplify Catholic values, the road back to practicing law in Florida has been rife with disappointment and frustration. In 1998, the Florida Supreme Court initially disbarred him for 10 years, meaning that he could reapply to become a lawyer again. More than decade later, nearly 200 witnesses — a who’s who of lawyers, current and former judges and community members — wrote letters supporting his re-entry.

But in 2012, the Supreme Court refused to readmit him to the bar — permanently — after the Florida Board of Bar Examiners recommended blocking his readmission forever. In a concurring opinion with the majority, however, then-Justice Barbara Pariente acknowledged she “struggled” with the decision because there was “overwhelming evidence of rehabilitation.” But she nonetheless sided with the rest of the court, saying Castro’s original crime of paying kickbacks to judges in exchange for client referrals “goes to the very core of our public’s trust and confidence in the judicial system.”

Cantero, who is representing Castro along with attorney Mycki Ratzan, said that the Supreme Court’s decade-old decision “remains an outlier in Florida Bar admissions” in light of his client’s impeccable post-disbarment conduct and rehabilitation.

“In fact, Castro is the only Florida attorney disbarred for a specified period who, after completing his disbarment period and reapplying for admission to the Florida Bar ... was permanently denied readmission to the Florida Bar,” says Cantero’s motion for a rehearing and written opinion from the Supreme Court.

Castro views his treatment by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners and Supreme Court as an “injustice” because he fulfilled his part of the original bargain for a 10-year disbarment by rehabilitating himself and passing the bar exam in 2007. He said the justices arbitrarily violated that agreement by imposing a harsher punishment.

“I deserve to be readmitted because under Florida Bar rules I earned the privilege to practice law again,” Castro, 68, said in an interview with the Herald. “I think their decision in 2012 was wrong. ... To me, it’s the last windmill I need to conquer, for personal gratification, so that I can practice law in my community. This is where my roots are; this is where my family lives.”

In the early 1990s, Castro was ensnared in Operation Court Broom, a scandal that shook Miami-Dade’s legal community to its core. Back then, judges often gave taxpayer-paid cases — appointments for indigent clients who could not be represented by the Public Defender’s Office — to friends. In an undercover operation, the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement uncovered that a ring of lawyers were paying kickbacks to judges for client referrals.

In all, four former judges, six lawyers and one businessman were convicted of conspiracy and other charges, including Castro, an Ivy League-educated lawyer who lived on Key Biscayne and drove red Porsche Turbo. At trial, prosecutors told jurors that Castro landed 64 cases worth $77,204 from one judge who was cooperating with investigators. He was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison, plus three years of supervised release. He also repaid the illicit income to the U.S. government.

Castro said he found his way back to the law through his faith, his family and the help of colleagues who believed in him. “It only has happened because so many people helped me and didn’t turn their back on me,” said Castro, who worked as a paralegal for many years. “That means so much.”

In 2020, Castro applied for and was reinstated in New York, where he’d been admitted as an attorney in 1990. In addition to the letters of support, three witnesses testified during a hearing: former-Circuit Judge Victoria Brennan, who was an attorney for Gov. Bush when he restored Castro’s civil rights, former Florida Supreme Court Justice Cantero and U.S. Magistrate John O’Sullivan — who as a former prosecutor was the one who convicted Castro.

Castro was not only readmitted in that state bar, but also admitted into the federal district courts of Manhattan and Brooklyn — plus, the district of Maryland. Additionally, he was admitted to practice in five federal appellate courts. U.S. District Court Judges Federico Moreno and Rodney Smith also allowed Castro to appear as an out-of-state attorney in a drug and gun case in Miami and a nursing school fraud case in Fort Lauderdale.

Both Castro and his lawyer, Cantero, argue that it is long overdue for Florida to reopen its courtroom doors to him.

“It’s always a challenge to tell a set of judges they were wrong and they should right something,” Cantero said in an interview. “But he clearly deserves a chance to be considered for readmission on the merits.”