High court publicly reprimands Arizona lawyer

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded an Arizona lawyer over misconduct she committed in her home state.

Tuesday’s discipline stems from a complaint the Office of Lawyer Regulation filed on May 1 charging the Tuscon-area lawyer Stephanie Stoltman, of the Law Office of Stephanie C Stoltman, with one charge of misconduct.

The OLR alleged Stoltman failed to notify it that she had been disciplined in 2010 and 2016 by the Arizona Supreme Court. Wisconsin Supreme Court rules require lawyers admitted to the Wisconsin bar to report to the OLR within 20 days any out-of-state discipline that has been imposed on them.

The Arizona high court censured Stoltman in 2010 for failing to keep adequate trust-account records and overdrawing her trust account. Since then, censures in Arizona have been renamed public reprimands.

In 2016, the Arizona court again disciplined Stoltman. This time the court admonished, i.e., privately reprimanded, Stoltman for holding an arbitration hearing but failing to enter an order or decision in the case.

The OLR had asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to impose a public reprimand on Stoltman as a reciprocal disciplinary action to the sanctions the Arizona Supreme Court had imposed on her.

Stoltman and the OLR reached a stipulation on May 24 in which Stoltman agreed not to contest the allegations in the complaint and the disciplinary actions that the OLR had sought. Both asked that the court not appoint a referee in the matter.

The high court on Tuesday accepted the stipulation and publicly reprimanded Stoltman, meaning the court’s decision will now be made a public record.

The justices noted that the decision does not lift the administrative suspension of Stoltman’s Wisconsin law license, which has been in effect since 2005. In order to again be able to practice law in Wisconsin, Stoltman must apply for reinstatement. Follow @erikastrebel