High court publicly reprimands Dane County lawyer

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded a lawyer out of Blue Mounds for mishandling a medical-malpractice lawsuit.

The justices’ decision on Friday stems from a complaint filed by the Office of Lawyer Regulation in December alleging seven counts of misconduct against Holly Lynn Fulkerson. According to the allegations, Fulkerson took a new job with a large health-care company but did not help her clients find new lawyers or inform her clients that the statute of limitations on the case had almost run out.

Fulkerson, who earned her law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2001, later reached a stipulation with the OLR in which she admitted to the charges and agreed to a public reprimand. However,the referee in the case declined to accept the stipulation, noting that Fulkerson had already been publicly reprimanded in 2015, meaning the decision in her case was made public and a copy was sent to her hometown newspaper.

After Fulkerson had sent a letter to the OLR containing more information about mitigating circumstances, the OLR took the matter back to the Preliminary Review Committee, which decides whether the OLR has cause to file a formal disciplinary complaint with the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The committee found probable cause on six of the seven charges.

However, the OLR still recommended that Fulkerson be publicly reprimanded. In a separate stipulation, Fulkerson agreed to the discipline and six charges.

The high court on Friday agreed with the OLR and adopted the stipulation, noting that Fulkerson had practiced in the state for about 17 years and had only been publicly reprimanded once.

“While her misconduct here was serious, it did not involve intentional misconduct or dishonesty,” the court wrote. “It was limited to a single client representation, where Attorney Fulkerson unfortunately agreed to handle a matter in an area of the law where she lacked experience and competence.” Follow @erikastrebel