State’s high court issues reciprocal discipline to Minn. lawyer

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday reprimanded and suspended a Minnesota lawyer who failed to notify the court of his disciplinary history.

In 2000, the Minnesota Supreme Court suspended the law license of Minneapolis attorney Tracy Eichhorn-Hicks, of Eichhorn-Hicks & Associates, for one year. In 2009, the same court publicly reprimanded Eichhorn-Hicks and placed him on two years probation.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday issued a reciprocal discipline to Eichhorn-Hicks, who didn’t inform the court of his reprimand and suspension in Minnesota, according to the order.

A 1975 graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, Eichhorn-Hicks earned his Wisconsin license in 1984.

The Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation filed a complaint on Oct. 5.

The Minnesota Supreme Court suspended Eichhorn-Hicks’ license for misuse of his trust account, failure to maintain proper trust account records, temporary misappropriation of funds, making a false certification on his attorney registration statements and making false statements to the director of the Minnesota Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility.

In 2009, Eichhorn-Hicks was given a public reprimand for receipt of advance fee payments from a client without a written agreement and without depositing the money into a client trust account, and failure to disclose during a disciplinary investigation the full amount of the payments he had received for the representation of a client.

Under the terms of the Minnesota order, Eichhorn-Hicks’ probation expired in June, according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s order.

According to the Wisconsin Supreme Court order, Eichhorn-Hicks acknowledged his sanctions, but argued that the reciprocal discipline should be imposed retroactively.

The court disagreed and said that because OLR learned of his disciplinary history more than a decade after it happened, discipline could still be applied prospectively. The disciplinary actions will begin April 2.