Just days after a judge found a South Florida foreclosure attorney broke ethical rules by criticizing local judges, his counsel pleaded his case at the penalty phase of a two-day sanction hearing to avoid what one of his advocates worries will be disbarment.

At the center of the case is Bruce Jacobs, a partner at Jacobs Law in Miami, whom The Florida Bar charged with violating three counts arising from the attorney’s criticism of the Third District Court of Appeal and Miami-Dade Circuit Court judges. On Monday, the presiding judge determined that Jacobs was only found guilty for his criticism of the Third DCA jurists.