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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".
In accordance with SCR22.09(3), Attorney
Lauren L. Otte is hereby publicly
reprimanded.
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