Public Reprimand of Lauren L. Otte

Attorney Lauren L. Otte (Otte) was admitted to the practice of law in Wisconsin on January 18, 2018, State Bar No. 1095333. Otte's law license is active and in good standing.

On February 14, 2022, Otte filed a notice of retainer on behalf of divorce petitioner Jill Murphy in Winnebago County case number 2020FA000363. At that time, the case was scheduled for a contested divorce hearing on April 6, 2022.

On April 6, 2022, a contested divorce hearing was scheduled for April 20, 2022. Otte submitted a letter to the Court dated April 15, 2022, requesting that the April 20, 2022 hearing be rescheduled as Otte would be out of town due to the unexpected death of her grandfather. Otte's statement to the court was untrue, as her grandfather had not recently passed. The actual reason Otte wanted an adjournment was because she had not adequately prepared for the hearing.

On April 20, 2022, Otte had a meeting with a partner at Otte's law firm. During the meeting, Otte disclosed that she had misrepresented the reason for requesting an adjournment of the April 20, 2022 hearing. The partner asked what Otte would have done if the court requested proof of her grandfather's passing. Otte showed the partner an obituary she found and was prepared to present to the court that had funeral times matching the date and time of the hearing.

On April 21, 2022, Otte sent a letter to the Court, the opposing party and their counsel, and her own client apologizing for her actions. Otte was subsequently terminated from her law firm as a result of the misrepresentation, another attorney in the firm took over representation of the client.

By misrepresenting to the court the reason she was requesting an adjournment, Otte violated SCR 20:3.3(a)(l), which states: "A lawyer shall not knowingly: (1) make a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal or fail to correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal by the lawyer; and SCR 20:8.4(c), which states: "It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to ... engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation".