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Wis. Supreme Court suspends Maryland lawyer

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//January 22, 2019//

Wis. Supreme Court suspends Maryland lawyer

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//January 22, 2019//

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently suspended the Wisconsin law license of a Maryland attorney for committing misconduct in his home state.

The disciplinary measure the justices handed down on Jan. 18 stems from an Office of Lawyer Regulation complaint filed in August charging Joseph Laumann with two counts of misconduct.

In May, the Maryland Supreme Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, indefinitely suspended Laumann’s license for breaking 16 of its attorney-ethics rules while representing four clients.

Lawyer-regulators in Wisconsin alleged that Laumann had failed to report that he had been disciplined in Maryland and that Laumann was therefore subject to reciprocal discipline in Wisconsin.

The OLR had asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to suspend Laumann’s license for six months as a disciplinary measure reciprocal to what Maryland’s high court had imposed.

Laumann and the OLR later reached an agreement, asking the high court to not appoint a referee to the case and to instead approve a stipulation that was filed with the court on Nov. 21. Laumann neither contested the OLR’s allegations nor challenged OLR’s request for a six-month suspension.

The justices accepted Laumann and the OLR’s stipulation, suspending his license immediately.

The court imposed no costs on Laumann and stated that the suspension of his license for failing to pay bar dues and report the completion of continuing-education courses would remain in effect until he had fulfilled those requirements.

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