High court suspends Minnesota attorney’s license

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently suspended a Minnesota attorney’s license for misconduct he committed in his home state.

Wisconsin’s Office of Lawyer Regulation filed a complaint on Jan. 14 alleging that Brian Campbell Fischer was subject to reciprocal discipline because the Minnesota Supreme Court suspended his license and Fischer failed to notify the OLR about that discipline.

State attorney-ethics rules require lawyers to report to the OLR any discipline imposed by another court.

The Minnesota Supreme Court had suspended Fischer’s license in May 2017 for 90 days over misconduct that included neglecting client matters, failing to communicate with clients and failing to return a client’s file.

The court, among other things, banned Fischer from taking on certain kinds of civil legal matters. It later reinstated his license on the condition that he take an ethics exam and put him on two years of probation. However, Fischer failed to take the exam, so the justices in May suspended his license again.

The OLR sought a 90-day suspension of Fischer’s license to practice law in Wisconsin.

Fischer in February admitted to the misconduct and agreed to the suspension as part of stipulation he reached with the OLR before a referee was appointed to the case. Both parties asked the court to accept the stipulation instead of sending the case to a full disciplinary proceeding before a referee.

The justices on Tuesday accepted the stipulation and suspended Fischer’s license immediately. Follow @erikastrebel