A Fort Lauderdale personal-injury attorney has been sidelined from the courtroom after the Florida Supreme Court signed off on an interim felony suspension tied to criminal charges arising from his contentious divorce.
Attorney Michael William Wallace has pleaded not guilty to aggravated fleeing and eluding in one case and to a separate allegation that he wrote a threat to kill in another. Under the court’s order, Wallace is barred from practicing law while those criminal cases play out.
The Florida Bar pushed for the emergency suspension after Wallace was hit with the two sets of charges. According to The Florida Bar, the pending allegations include aggravated fleeing or eluding at high speed and a written or electronic threat to kill.
Police in Sunrise say the criminal trouble started with a June 2, 2024, alarm call at the home Wallace had shared with his estranged wife. When officers arrived, they say Wallace took off in a black 2016 GMC Yukon, racing away at a high rate of speed and blowing through stop signs while holding his phone out of the driver’s-side window. Officers reported following him to his apartment at the Solero at Plantation complex, where, according to the arrest report, he surrendered after stepping out onto his balcony. Wallace entered not-guilty pleas in the criminal cases, and the state Supreme Court then suspended his law license, as reported by the Miami Herald.
A separate arrest warrant alleges that on Aug. 29, 2025, Wallace sent a text message to his then-attorney, Lawrence Meltzer, spelling out an intention to kill or cause great bodily harm to a person whose initials match those of his estranged wife. Wallace’s current criminal defense lawyer, Michael Gottlieb, has urged the court to toss that threat charge as privileged communication that came out of a “highly emotional” legal fight, arguing in a filing that, “The alleged ‘threats’ were not communicated to the alleged victim.” The charge of writing a threat to kill is still pending, the Miami Herald reports.
What the suspension means
Recent rule changes in Florida laid out a clearer process for interim suspensions when a lawyer is charged with a felony that reflects adversely on fitness to practice, including notice and a chance to respond. As explained by The Florida Bar, an interim felony suspension blocks a lawyer from practicing until the criminal charges are resolved or the suspension is lifted.
Both criminal cases against Wallace remain pending, and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty. His legal team can move to dissolve the interim suspension or focus on fighting the criminal charges, while the disciplinary case continues on a separate track at the Florida Supreme Court.
