A court-appointed referee in the Florida Bar’s ethics case against Coral Gables attorney Scot Strems has rendered her findings, recommending that the high court suspend the attorney for two years and serve one year of probation.

Though the bar sought disbarment, alleging in its complaint that Strems “betrayed his ethical obligations to his clients in order to enrich himself at the clients’ expense,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dawn Denaro’s report painted a different picture: one of a lawyer who meant well but whose firm was overwhelmed.