High court suspends Michigan attorney’s license

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended the license of a Michigan lawyer who smuggled drugs to his client in jail.

The discipline stems from an Office of Lawyer Regulation complaint filed Aug. 13 alleging that John Waters, who practiced in Grand Rapids, Mich., failed to report that his license had been suspended for three years in that state in 2013 over, among other things, two felony convictions stemming from his smuggling a prescription painkiller to a client in a county jail.

Waters was discharged from prison in June.

The OLR asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to suspend Waters’ license for three years as discipline reciprocal to that imposed in Michigan. The justices agreed, also ordering him to pay the full cost of the disciplinary proceeding.

Waters has been licensed to practice law in Wisconsin since 2002. He earned his degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2000. According to the State Bar website, his license had been suspended for not submitting a trust-account report and for not completing continuing legal-education requirements. Waters has no disciplinary history in Wisconsin, according to the OLR. Follow @erikastrebel