Legal Ethics

Law firm associate disciplined for helping suspended partner practice

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When Minnesota attorney Louis A. Stockman had his license suspended last year for client neglect and other misconduct, an associate took over his Duluth law practice.

That got attorney Brian Campbell Fischer in ethical hot water, too. In a Friday order he was put on probation for two years by the state supreme court for helping Stockman practice law, failing to supervise the former partner adequately, using misleading law firm signage and other admitted misconduct, the Duluth News Tribune reports.

Meanwhile, Stockman’s suspension was extended indefinitely because he continued to practice and advertise in phone directories.

“There are different limits on what a suspended lawyer is allowed to do,” said Martin Cole, who serves as director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility. “He did go over that limit with the advertising.”

The newspaper doesn’t include any comment from either Fischer or Stockman, and said it was unable to reach Fischer, who no longer works at the law office.

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