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ATTORNEY disciplinary
proceeding. Attorney's license
suspended.
¶1 PER CURIAM. This is a reciprocal
discipline matter. On June 22, 2012, the
Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) filed a
complaint and motion pursuant to SCR 22.22
requesting that this court suspend the
license of Attorney Louis A. Stockman for a
period of five months as reciprocal
discipline identical to that imposed by the
Minnesota Supreme Court.
¶2 Attorney Stockman was admitted to
practice law in Wisconsin in 1999 and was
previously admitted to practice law in
Minnesota in 1993.
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¶3 The OLR's complaint noted that on
February 17, 2012, the Minnesota Supreme
Court suspended Attorney Stockman's license
to practice law in Minnesota with no right
to petition for reinstatement for a minimum
of five months, effective March 3, 2012.
The Minnesota Supreme Court found that
Attorney Stockman's conduct violated
multiple Minnesota Rules of Professional
Conduct. Attorney Stockman's misconduct
consisted of negligent misappropriation and
mishandling of client funds, commingling
personal and client funds, failure to
maintain required trust account records,
sharing legal fees with a non-lawyer
assistant, failure to diligently resolve a
client matter and return a contingent fee to
his client trust account, failure to clearly
communicate the basis and rate of fees,
failure to provide a client with a
settlement statement and remit personal
funds to a client, and engaging in a pattern
of client-related misconduct.
¶4 On July 17, 2012, following the
OLR's filing of an affidavit of service of
the complaint on Attorney Stockman, this
court issued an order directing Attorney
Stockman to show cause why the imposition of
the identical discipline imposed by the
Minnesota Supreme Court would be
unwarranted. Attorney Stockman failed to
respond to the order to show cause.
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¶5 Under SCR 22.22(3), in reciprocal
discipline matters, this court shall impose
the identical discipline unless one of the
enumerated exceptions is shown. There is no
indication that any of those exceptions
apply in this case.
¶6 IT IS ORDERED that the license of
Louis A. Stockman to practice law in
Wisconsin is suspended for a period of five
months, effective the date of this order.
¶7 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Louis A.
Stockman shall comply with the requirements
of SCR 22.26 pertaining to the duties of a
person whose license to practice law in
Wisconsin has been suspended.
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