Supreme Court suspends lawyer who has been disciplined 14 times since ’79

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A longtime Minnesota attorney who has faced discipline several times before is facing further discipline. The Minnesota Supreme Court announced Jan. 10 that Joseph Kaminsky was indefinitely suspended from the practice of law, with no right to petition for reinstatement for nine months.

Kaminsky was originally admitted to practice law in Minnesota in 1972. He established a solo practice and has served as a longtime defense attorney ever since. Though he has practiced for over 50 years, he has faced discipline that spans over 43 years of his practice. Kaminsky has been disciplined 14 times since 1979. He has been admonished nine times, put on private probation twice, and suspended twice already. As the court noted, Kaminsky was previously discipline for misconduct that was of the same type as he was recently disciplined for.

According to the director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, Kaminsky violated rules of professional conduct in three client matters for more than five years. In a child-custody matter, Kaminsky filed a motion requesting that the district court grant his client temporary physical custody of his children because the children’s mother was hospitalized. The court explicitly required personal service of the mother, and Kaminsky filed an affidavit of personal service.

The child’s mother did not appear at the hearing, so Kaminsky’s client was granted temporary physical custody of the children. The mother’s parenting time was reduced to just two hours of supervised visitation per week. The mother did not have her custody rights restored for two years. Ultimately, it turned out that the mother did not learn of the hearing that she was absent from until the day before and that she was never personally served with notice. In fact, the process server left the papers on the doorstep, falling short of the service requirements.

“In every case, proper service is essential,” the court wrote. “But proper service was especially crucial here, in a family law case involving the custody of children, following an ex parte order, and with one parent hospitalized.”

In another matter, a client facing a 50-year harassment restraining order placed against him in 2009 retained Kaminsky to help him vacate the order. Kaminsky moved to vacate the order, but it was denied because of improper service, attempting service by publication rather than personally. Additionally, the district court maintained that the motion lacked merit. The record did not reflect that Kaminsky’s client addressed the issues underlying his conduct, namely his mental health issues and medication compliance.

“Kaminsky’s representation of N.P.Y. wasted his client’s opportunity to vacate the 50-year harassment restraining order against him,” the court noted.

Kaminsky was on disciplinary probation when he committed some of the misconduct. He was placed on probation starting Feb. 13, 2020.

The referee concluded that Kaminsky committed 25 separate violations, violating 16 rules of the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct, including failing to deposit advanced fees in a trust account without a flat fee agreement, failing to represent a client competently and diligently, failing to properly supervise staff, filing a false affidavit with a court, and neglecting a client.

The referee recommended that Kaminsky be suspended indefinitely from the practice of law, with no right to petition for reinstatement for nine months. Kaminsky opposed the discipline, characterizing it as punitive. He also argued that, if discipline were imposed, that it should be stayed because of his impending retirement.

The court declined to impose a stayed suspension, finding that it was not appropriate in his case. “Kaminsky’s prior discipline includes many of the same violations he committed here,” the court noted. Though Kaminsky cited cases of a stayed suspension, the court noted that neither case involved a lawyer committing misconduct while on probation for similar misconduct.

Kaminsky will be suspended effective 14 days from the court’s opinion, with no right to petition for reinstatement for nine months.