MILWAUKEE COUNTY

Milwaukee County's top lawyer has law license reinstated after short administrative suspension

Bruce Vielmetti
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Milwaukee County Corporation Counsel Margaret Daun. 
2018 official photo

Milwaukee County's top lawyer can practice law again.

Corporation Counsel Margaret Daun's law license had been suspended June 16 after she failed to meet the deadline for certifying she had completed 30 hours of required continuing legal education over 2018 and 2019.

Daun told the Journal Sentinel she had taken enough courses but hadn't gotten around to filing the proper paperwork by the Feb. 1 deadline, or during the 60 days of notice from the Board of Bar Examiners about her delinquency. She said that was owing in part to the demands of the county's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In an email to the Journal Sentinel Thursday, Daun said she had been reinstated to practice law. The confirmation letter from the BBE says she has nine hours of credit that carry over to the current reporting period.

Duan thanked the BBE for its quick action once she filed the paperwork and $100 fee. 

She also thanked her office for covering while she could not do things that would amount to the practice of law, and her clients "for their support and acknowledgment that this had nothing to do with my skill, professionalism, or ethics as an attorney."

According to the Board of Bar Examiners, about 2% of the state bar's members receive the administrative suspensions over missing continuing education certification each year.  During such a suspension, a lawyer may not practice law, just as if they had been suspended by the Supreme Court for violating lawyers' rules of professional conduct.

Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or bvielmetti@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.