Former Stafford Rosenbaum partner faces year-long suspension

Listen to this article

A Madison-area lawyer faces a year-long suspension over allegations that she converted money belonging to her law firm.

According to a complaint filed on July 28 by the Office of Lawyer Regulation, Amie Trupke broke two attorney-ethics rules while she was a partner at Madison-based Stafford Rosenbaum. According to her LinkedIn profile, she worked for the firm from June 2002 to May 2016.

The OLR alleges that Trupke had not told her partners or her firm that she had earned more than $70,000 from January 2013 to June 2016 by working as an independent reviewer for the Center for Copyright Information, which is a service offered through the American Arbitration Association. Technically, any money Trupke earned from practicing law should have gone to her firm

According to the complaint, Trupke also opened a file in a matter involving the arbitration association in 2013 and worked 28.10 hours on it but then asked the law firm’s department to write it off. She then sent an invoice to the association, asking it to mail her payment to her home address.

The OLR also alleges that Trupke misled the firm’s managing partner in March 2016 about her work with the AAA. Trupke ended up resigning in May 2016 and entering into an agreement in June 2016 calling for her to reimburse the firm by waiving certain post-resignation benefits.

The OLR is seeking a year-long suspension of Trupke’s license. Trupke could not be reached by the email listed by the State Bar and OLR.

Trupke’s LinkedIn profile lists her current occupation as president and volunteer at a Golden Retriever adoption and rehabilitation nonprofit group, Golden Rule Rescue and Rehabilitation. She did not respond to messages left at the number listed for that group.

Trupke earned her law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2002, and her license is active and in good standing, according to the State Bar and OLR websites. Follow @erikastrebel