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¶4 On November 25, 2015, the Minnesota
Supreme Court issued a 60-day suspension of
Attorney Kurzman's license based on two
counts of misconduct alleging five rule
violations for inappropriately questioning a
witness during a deposition, failing to
provide two different clients with their
files within a reasonable period of time,
failing to submit records to the court as
directed, and providing confidential
materials from multiple clients to another
of his clients.
¶5 The Minnesota Supreme Court found
these acts violated Minn. R. Prof. Conduct
4.4(a), Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 8.4(d), Minn.
R. Prof. Conduct 1.16(d), Minn. R. Prof.
Conduct 1.1, Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 1.3, and
Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 1.6(a). Attorney
Kurzman failed to notify OLR of the
Minnesota discipline within 20 days of its
effective date.
¶6 On February 11, 2016, the OLR filed
a complaint alleging that, by virtue of the
Minnesota discipline, Attorney Kurzman is
subject to reciprocal discipline in
Wisconsin pursuant to SCR 22.22. The
complaint further alleged that by failing to
notify OLR of his Minnesota discipline for
professional misconduct within 20 days of
the effective date of its imposition,
Attorney Kurzman violated SCR 22.22(1). The
OLR asked this court to issue an order
directing Attorney Kurzman to inform the
court of any claim by him predicated upon
the grounds set forth in SCR 22.22(3) that
imposition of discipline reciprocal to that
imposed in Minnesota would be unwarranted.
¶7 On March 31, 2016, the parties filed
a jointly executed stipulation whereby
Attorney Kurzman agrees that by virtue of
the Minnesota suspension, he is subject to
reciprocal discipline in Wisconsin pursuant
to SCR 22.22. He agrees that the factual
allegations contained in the OLR's complaint
are accurate and that he committed the
professional misconduct charged in the
complaint. The stipulation states that
Attorney Kurzman does not claim any of the
defenses set forth in SCR 22.22(3)(a)-(c).
The stipulation states that Attorney Kurzman
fully understands the nature of the
misconduct allegations against him, his
right to contest those allegations, and the
ramifications that would follow from this
court's imposition of the stipulated level
of discipline. The stipulation indicates
that Attorney Kurzman understands his right
to counsel and verifies that he is entering
into the stipulation knowingly and
voluntarily and that his entry into the
stipulation represents his decision not to
contest this matter. He agrees that it would
be appropriate for this court to suspend his
license to practice law for a period of 60
days.
¶8 Having carefully considered this
matter, we approve the stipulation, adopt
the stipulated facts and legal conclusions
of professional misconduct, and we suspend
Attorney Kurzman's license to practice law
for a period of 60 days. Because Attorney
Kurzman entered into a comprehensive
stipulation under SCR 22.12 and no referee
was needed, we do not impose any costs in
this matter.
¶9 IT IS ORDERED that the license of
Marc G. Kurzman to practice law in Wisconsin
is suspended for a period of 60 days,
effective the date of this order.
¶10 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that if he has
not already done so, Marc G. Kurzman shall
comply with the provisions of SCR 22.26
concerning the duties of an attorney whose
license to practice law has been suspended.
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