From Tennessee

The Minnesota Supreme Court imposed a reciprocal suspension of four months based on a sanction imposed in Tennessee

Respondent was suspended in Tennessee for failing to obtain original client signatures on documents before they were electronically filed in bankruptcy court, in violation of applicable law; failing to adequately supervise a nonlawyer assistant, who had clients return to the office to sign and backdate these documents after they had been filed; and presenting these documents to the bankruptcy court as documents that had been signed by the client before they were filed, knowing they contained backdated client signatures. Respondent also presented an agreed-to order continuing a hearing to a bankruptcy court when respondent forged the trustee’s signature and the trustee did not agree to the continuance. In addition, respondent presented a bankruptcy court with a document, knowing it contained the forged signature of her client. Finally, respondent allowed her name to be signed to retainer agreements before she met the clients. Respondent’s misconduct violated Tenn. R. Prof. Conduct 1.1, 1.3, 3.3, 5.3, and 8.4(a).

Sanction

The parties jointly recommend that the appropriate discipline is a 4-month suspension, retroactive to August 30, 2021, the date of the Tennessee discipline, that respondent be reinstated by affidavit, and that following reinstatement, respondent be placed on probation for 32 months.

The court has independently reviewed the file and approves the jointly recommended disposition.

(Mike Frisch)