Former Florida Lawyer Who Plotted to Kill Wife Is Disbarred
A former Florida lawyer and businessman who spent 14 years in prison for plotting his wife’s murder has been permanently disbarred for practicing law without a license.
Paul B. Luskin, who was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill his wife, Marie, during a brutal divorce battle in 1988, was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He also was disbarred for five years.
But Luskin, who was released from prison in 2002, accepted $1,600 to write an appellate brief for a federal prison inmate in 2010, which Florida Bar officials say constitutes the unlicensed practice of law.
“We don’t take UPL lightly,” bar spokeswoman Francine Walker told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Disbarred lawyers may apply for reinstatement after five years, Walker said. But permanently disbarred lawyers can never practice again.
Luskin’s wife, who was shot in the head by a hit man posing a florist deliveryman, survived the attack. The hit man was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 50 years.
