High court suspends attorney’s license over misconduct in Arizona

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended an attorney’s license in response to misconduct in his home state of Arizona.

The disciplinary action stems from a complaint filed in June by the Office of Lawyer Regulation against Stephen Manion, who had a practice in Laveen, Ariz.

The OLR alleged that Manion had failed to report that the Arizona Supreme Court had suspended his license in March for six months and one day over two counts of misconduct involving a client who was an inmate.

The misconduct included Manion’s allowing his client to communicate from jail by using an intermediary who Manion knew had been convicted of fraud. Manion’s client lost money.

Also, Manion helped another inmate client collect a share of an inheritance by circumventing prison rules, breaking various trust-account rules in the process and causing that client also to lose money.

The complaint also asked the high court to impose reciprocal discipline. Manion did not respond to the complaint.

The justices on Friday decided to suspend Manion’s Wisconsin license for six months.