PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Supreme Court has suspended the law license of Paul B. McCarthy for two months in connection with a mortgage refinancing that he conducted in New Jersey.

The court’s disciplinary board had recommended a one-month suspension but the court decided to deliver a more serious sanction.

In an order released Tuesday, the court said McCarthy, who practiced law with now-disbarred attorney Pasquale A. Scavitti in Cranston, would be suspended for two months beginning July 12.

The court, in its unsigned order, agreed that McCarthy “is truly remorseful for his conduct” and said it had accepted as true “all the mitigating factors found by the board.”

However, the court said, “We do not believe that a 30-day suspension adequately addresses the seriousness of the respondent’s misconduct.”

McCarthy “traveled to the State of New Jersey cognizant of the fact that he is not authorized to act as a notary public in that state. He then directed a third party to falsely sign another’s name to a mortgage, causing potential harm to the lender should the lender attempt to foreclose on the mortgage. Lastly, he falsely identified the date and location of the real estate closing.”

According to the Supreme Court’s chief disciplinary counsel, David D. Curtin, who prosecuted the ethics complaint, McCarthy went to New Jersey to conduct the closing at Scavitti’s direction. Scavitti was the designated settlement agent on the loan documents, which related to a $320,000 mortgage refinancing for a mother and son who jointly own property in Newport.

Curtin alleged in his complaint that when McCarthy arrived at the mother’s New Jersey home last July, the son was not present so the lawyer instructed his father to sign the son’s name to the mortgage deed and other closing documents.

McCarthy — who is licensed to practice only in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Colorado — then notarized the mortgage deed, indicating on the notary seal that the deed had been signed by the mother and son one day earlier in Cranston.

McCarthy has practiced law in Rhode Island for 16 years and has had no prior disciplinary conduct, the court said.

He fully cooperated with the board’s investigation and according to the court, “provided candid testimony before the board.” The court noted that except for the fee he got from conducting the closing, “he obtained no financial gain for himself.”

Meanwhile, Scavitti pleaded guilty last week in U.S. District Court to stealing $2.5 million from homeowners refinancing or buying new homes and is facing up to 30 years in prison and $1 million in fines at his sentencing Sept. 24. He remains free on $50,000 bond.

tbreton@projo.com