Madison lawyer, OLR asking court to OK year-long suspension

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A Madison lawyer and the Office of Lawyer Regulation are asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to approve an agreement that includes a year-long suspension.

The Office of Lawyer Regulation filed a complaint last year charging Amie Trupke with two counts of misconduct while she was a partner at Madison-based Stafford Rosenbaum from 2002 to 2016.

The OLR alleged that Trupke had not told her partners or firm that she had earned more than $70,000 over three years by working as an independent reviewer for a service offered by the American Arbitration Association.

The OLR also alleged that Trupke misled the managing partner at the firm about that work.

The OLR is seeking a year-long suspension of Trupke’s license.

Trupke, represented by James Bartzen of Madison-based Boardman & Clark, filed an answer in October, admitting to the OLR’s allegations.

On Jan. 2, Trupke and the OLR filed a stipulation in which Trupke pleaded no contest to the two charges the OLR had filed against her, admitted to the allegations in the OLR’s complaint and agreed not to contest the OLR’s recommendation for a year-long suspension.

The OLR and Trupke are asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to consider the OLR’s complaint and accept the stipulation without appointing a referee in the matter.

Since the stipulation was filed, the OLR and Trupke filed documents in February urging the court to adopt the stipulation.

The OLR, in a document filed on Feb. 2, noted that a year-long suspension of Trupke’s license is appropriate because of several mitigating factors. It noted that Trupke had paid back her firm, Trupke has no disciplinary history and Trupke cooperated in the OLR’s investigation of her conduct.

Trupke noted in her filing on Feb. 13 that she would be withdrawing the answer she filed in October and that she chose not to contest the year-long suspension because she cannot afford the cost of a disciplinary proceeding.

The court may choose to adopt the stipulation, modify it or reject it.  If it rejects the stipulation, the matter is then sent to a referee. The matter would then proceed as if the OLR had only filed a complaint.

Should the court accept the stipulation, that would mean Trupke would have to petition for reinstatement in order to practice law once the suspension is up. Follow @erikastrebel