Two years ago, a cowboy of a Tampa lawyer, successful and smooth in his crisp suit, condemned opposing counsel in a contentious case playing out for the cameras.

But he wasn't complaining about anything that lawyer had done in court that day in the ongoing defamation trial between two overblown radio DJs — Bubba the Love Sponge Clem and Todd Schnitt.

No, the news had just broken that lawyer C. Philip Campbell was arrested for DUI mid trial. So opposing attorney Stephen Diaco rose up righteous for reporters.

"The whole thing," he said, "makes me ashamed to be an attorney."

Funny how words can come back to bite you.

For two years since, a tawdry tale has unfolded: Campbell, arrested with the help of an undercover Adams & Diaco paralegal who batted her lashes from the stool next to him in a dark downtown bar, a user-friendly DUI sergeant stationed outside, and a whole lot of cellphone calls and texts between Adams & Diaco lawyers before Campbell went to jail.

On Tuesday, W. Douglas Baird, the Pinellas-Pasco senior judge overseeing the Florida Bar disciplinary trial of three Adams & Diaco lawyers — and somehow doing this with no visible signs of incredulity — ruled that Diaco, Robert Adams and Adam Filthaut conspired "deliberately and maliciously" to get Campbell arrested to gain advantage in the trial.

So if you're looking for something shameful about being an attorney, there you go.

He also found that all three erased phone messages or concealed their phones afterward.

The judge's ruling in this closely watched case is a little like being found guilty in criminal court. It could also be a death sentence for the legal careers of one or more of the cowboy lawyers who stood defiant.

"Nonexistent," attorneys called the evidence against them. Despite all those calls and texts. Despite the police officer who testified it wasn't the first night the DUI sergeant who was Filthaut's friend told them to stake out Campbell. Despite the lawyers' mysteriously missing cellphones afterward. Despite pretty much everyone taking the Fifth.

Except Adams, who got on the stand to tell the tale of a paralegal gone rogue. Big straight-face points to the judge on that one.

Might it have been a better strategy — or at least minor points with the judge and the Florida Supreme Court — had the lawyers fallen on their collective sword? Had they said their zeal on behalf of their client went too far, that they used very bad judgment, that they made a terrible error here? Maybe.

Instead, their lawyers insisted they were keeping the world safe from a drunken driver, despite what looked like a lot of effort to get him behind the wheel in the first place.

It will be up to the Florida Supreme Court to determine their fate, up to and including suspension and disbarment. Diaco already offered to resign for five years, but the court declined, perhaps having its own thoughts on the appropriate sanction here.

And that part about being ashamed to be a lawyer? Not for attorneys who do the job without stepping outside the lines and going cowboy.